The country’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center opened Monday at Albany Nanotech as part of a broader federal effort to boost the United States' competitiveness in the industry.

The Albany NanoTech complex was selected last year by federal officials as the national headquarters for research into a cutting-edge semiconductor technology known as extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography. The lab will have the most advanced chip-making machinery in the world and allow researchers from the semiconductor industry to collaborate with their university counterparts. This effort is a result of the CHIPS & Science Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022.

“This facility will allow the nation’s top scientists, universities, and companies to access the most advanced machinery in the world for developing microchips. It is the start of a historic new effort by the federal government to ensure the next generation of microchips will be developed here in America, here in the Capital Region, not in China, not overseas,” U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Today, we help usher in America’s next era of chip research and manufacturing, with Upstate NY leading the way.”

The Albany lab's selection also advances longstanding efforts by Schumer and other government officials to make upstate New York a global center of semiconductor research and manufacturing.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.