ABB 2006/7 | State Profiles | North Atlantic region | New York State | Profile

New York State is an international business centre representing overseas interests in almost every industry. Because of this distinction, major companies throughout the world choose New York State as a base to build and expand their operations.

There are myriad reasons why companies partner with New York State, but chief among them are a stable, competitive pro-business environment; a superior educational system; a highly-skilled workforce; costcompetitive locations; and an aggressive marketing approach to attracting new businesses. Over the past 12 years, under the leadership of Governor George E Pataki, the State has implemented progressive economic development strategies, coupled with enticing financial and tax incentives, which have ushered in a new era of business growth.

Industries that fuel New York State’s economic engine are finance and banking, retail, business services, transportation, distribution, and manufacturing. Highgrowth industries with strong future promise include information technology, biotechnology, electronic printing and publishing, optics and imaging, and advanced materials.

Home to 1,554 foreign affiliates with property, plant and equipment or employment in New York, the state is a national leader in foreign direct investment (FDI), valued at $62.3bn in 2003. The value of UK investments in NYS, at $12.7bn, and the number of employees at UK affiliates, with 73,600 in NYS, were both in first place, ranking the UK as New York’s premier investment partner. Consistently one of the top exporting states, New York’s strength contributes significantly to the US’ trading position and demonstrates dynamic ties to the UK.

In 2005, New York exports to the UK totalled $2.9bn, making it the state’s third largest trading partner in the world after Canada and Israel. Leading exports were pearls, precious stones and coins; works of art and antiques; industrial machinery; electric machinery, including sound and television equipment; and optical, medical and surgical instruments. As the pre-eminent international financial centre, New York is home to many of the world’s leading commercial and investment banks, securities brokers and dealers, and diversified financial services and insurance companies. The largest and most active equities markets are located in New York City, where British banks Barclays and HSBC have based their North American headquarters.

The state is ranked seventh in the nation in attracting new and expanded corporate facilities. In 2005, New York attracted 312 new projects and expansions. It is also home to over 307 universities and academic institutions. The state’s success is driven in part by a commitment to university-based R&D and a strategy of dynamic economic development. Under the state’s lead economic development agency, Empire State Development, New York’s effective business development programmes spur high-tech investment. The Empire Zones network, offering tax-free areas, is one of the state’s most successful initiatives to encourage companies to locate and grow their businesses here.

The state’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Initiative, which expedites projects through pre-qualified industrial sites geared toward chip fabrication across the state, has benefited leading microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturers. As a result of the programme, IBM opened one of the world’s most advanced 300mm semiconductor facilities in 2002 that will create 1,000 new jobs in the Hudson Valley. The $2.5bn investment represents one of the largest private sector investments in the country since 1995.

Earlier this year, Advanced Micro Devices announced plans for one of the largest private sector industrial investments in New York State history – a multibillion dollar deal that would enable AMD to build and operate in Saratoga County the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in the world. New York is ranked second in the nation in total university R&D expenditures at $3.1bn, with life sciences R&D expenditures at $2.1bn. These valuable resources have helped the state pioneer such emerging sciences as nanotechnology and photonics.

Once an industrial leader that pioneered the country’s aviation industry, financial network, and arts and entertainment world, New York is now recognised as a world-class centre of high technology. Its most promising project is the Centers of Excellence network, a $1bn partnership of academia, business and government to stimulate research and the rapid commercialisation of scientific breakthroughs. Five Centres specialise in strategic research areas: bioinformatics in Buffalo, environmental systems in Syracuse, photonics in Rochester, nanoelectronics in Albany, and wireless Internet and information technology on Long Island.

Affirming New York’s status as a high-tech powerhouse was the selection of the University of Albany as the future base for International SEMATECH North, a global consortium of 12 prominent computer chip manufacturers. The group is locating its next generation computer chip research and development centre at New York’s Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany. More than 20,000 hightech companies – including IBM, Tokyo Electron, Sony, Infineon, and Genus – have selected New York as a base to develop tomorrow’s innovations today.

Among the most recent developments on the state’s high-tech front, Sony announced in May 2005 that IBM will use its plant in upstate New York to produce the next-generation Playstation microprocessor. Governor Pataki has also formalised plans for the country’s first Nanoscience school. The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering will be based at the State University at Albany in the same complex that houses the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, and represents part of the state’s plan to create technology-driven jobs. Dutch chip-lithography company, ASML Holding NV, and IBM Corporation recently announced the creation of a $400m nanochip research and development facility at the Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics.

The new International Multiphase Partnership for Lithography Science and Engineering is ASML’s first R&D centre outside Europe and will bring together over 50 high-tech companies from across New York. Located at the centre of the world’s largest, richest, and most active consumer marketplace, New York State is uniquely positioned in the heart of North America’s most concentrated population and offers limitless prospects for importing, exporting and distribution.

It is within one day’s highway travel of more than 55% of the nation’s population and more than 60% of the population of Canada. Many of the nation’s major cities, including Pittsburgh, Chicago, Charlotte, Raleigh, Washington DC, Boston and Portland, Maine are within one day’s drive of New York locations. Distinguished by a superior infrastructure, New York has over 500 airports and landing facilities (356 total airports); direct flights to over 150 cities worldwide; thousands of miles of rivers and 33 deep-river ports; ready access to the Great Lakes, St Lawrence Seaway and the world’s oceans; a 4000-mile rail network; and 113,000 miles of roadways.

Through Empire State Development, the state aids foreign companies with key services and is supported by a network of 10 regional and nine international offices, including one in the UK. Our expert economic development specialists help businesses with site location; joint venture partners and strategic alliances; demographic and utilities cost data; access to incentive programmes; and networking with local government officials and private businesses. Celltech, ICI, Cadbury Schwepps, BAE Systems and Cable & Wireless are among the many UK companies located here. By responding to economic challenges with an aggressive high-tech strategy and business-friendly policies, New York remains the ideal place for firms to invest, work and build a prosperous future.

For more information, contact:
Michael McLoughlin,
Director, Europe, Empire State Development
Tel: 020 7629 2720
Website: www.nylovesbiz.com

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