IBM jobs in NY said to safe in restructuring
ALBANY – IBM employees are bracing for another round of cuts, but New York workers are again expected to be spared.
With IBM investing billions of dollars in New York and with the pending transition of facilities to GlobalFoundries, the company has no plans to downsize and lay off workers in New York, a source close to IBM and the state told Gannett's Albany Bureau.
There is growing speculation that IBM is due for another round of cuts amid poor performance in its fourth-quarter earnings released last Tuesday.
Yet IBM's situation in New York is unique. It's heavily invested in research in the state, and IBM vowed to keep its jobs in New York in a $1.5 billion transaction last year with GlobalFoundries, transferring its semiconductor manufacturing facilities in East Fishkill and in Vermont.
A GlobalFoundries spokesman Monday confirmed that the company has offered jobs to all the IBM workers that are part of the deal, which is expected to close in the coming months. It's unclear how many offers went out.
"We generally do not comment on rumor or speculation, and it really would not be appropriate for us to comment on IBM's layoff rumors," said GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard. "We can say, however, that we have made employment offers to all of the current IBM employees who are covered under the terms of our acquisition deal for the microelectronics division."
There was no immediate comment from IBM, which is based in Armonk, Westchester County.
When IBM announced its agreement with GlobalFoundries in October, it emphasized the benefit the deal would have in New York. GlobalFoundries already has a massive chip manufacturing plant in Malta, Saratoga County.
"I think up and down the Hudson Valley, from Yorktown, through Fishkill, through Poughkeepsie, through Albany, up into Malta, this is great news for employment in New York state," IBM vice president John Kelly told reporters when the deal was announced.
New York has about 14,000 IBM employees, and half of those are in Dutchess County. IBM also has offices in Endicott, Broome County, where it was founded, with about 700 workers.
Last July, IBM announced a $3 billion investment in new chip research, and Gannett reported at the time that most of the money was expected to be spent in New York and that the company's previous job pledge would remain intact.
In fact, New York didn't have job cuts during a round of layoffs last year. And IBM officials confirmed in October that the majority of the research will be done in Albany and Yorktown, Westchester County, where IBM jobs will remain.
New York officials have been heavily involved with IBM and GlobalFoundries. The companies are anchor tenants at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering — the sprawling research hub in Albany. New York's leverage: It owns the equipment and facilities.
GlobalFoundries, meanwhile, plans to invest $10 billion over the next year in its facilities, mainly in New York.
Still, there continues to be worry in the Hudson Valley that GlobalFoundries ultimately will either moves the jobs to Malta or make cuts in East Fishkill, an older facility compared to Malta.
In February 2013, IBM and Cuomo announced an agreement to maintain 3,100 high-tech jobs in the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas through 2016. The deal was part of IBM's expansion in Buffalo to create 500 jobs at a $55 million high-tech hub.
After the sale in October, officials from the companies said there is no end date for the job pledge, reiterating that they have no plans to scale down the current IBM facilities in New York.
State officials have said that the East Fishkill facility can thrive for a decade or more because it offers different products than what GlobalFoundries is doing in Malta.
Joseph Spector: Twitter: @gannettalbany