The New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY CREATES) is constructing the $614 million NanoFab Reflection (NFR) facility in Albany, N.Y. Representing an expansion of the existing Albany NanoTech Complex, the four-story, 310,000-sf R&D building will feature a 50,000-sf ISO 5 cleanroom, complemented by approximately 50,000 sf of non-clean sub-fab space.
The past few decades have brought myriad technological changes to our daily lives, and experts predict the pace of change will only increase—especially in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Much of the talk surrounding AI focuses on automating repetitive processes and analyzing data, which require additional computational power but not necessarily structural modifications. But emerging technologies, including AI and robotics, may require universities and companies to rethink their approach to designing and planning buildings and labs.
One United Properties began construction in August of 2024 on One Technology District, a semiconductor R&D center in Bucharest, Romania. Infineon Technologies will occupy the facility and has committed to a 15-year lease that represents a total contract value of $62.2 million. Positioned to become the largest semiconductor hub in southeast Europe, the innovation complex will offer a gross leasable area of 222,000 sf, including 32,000 sf of next-generation lab space.
Post-pandemic employees expect their workplaces to offer amenities similar to those they grew accustomed to while working from home: access to outdoor spaces, the opportunity to choose between working from home and in the office, areas for individual and team work, and the ability to focus on their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing with amenities such as a gym, quiet lounges with technological support for laptops, and nearby places to socialize.
Siemens Healthineers—a spinoff of Siemens that focuses exclusively on healthcare equipment, solutions, and services—has begun construction on a £250 million ($314 million) facility in the United Kingdom to research and manufacture a breakthrough sustainable design for MRI superconducting magnets that reduces the need for helium from 1,500 liters (more than 396 gallons) to a single liter (just over a quart).
The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) broke ground in May of 2024 on the 68,000-sf, $109.7 million Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), a laboratory and office facility designed by SmithGroup and dedicated to research in the fields of microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences, with a focus on achieving fusion energy by 2040.
The University of Arkansas broke ground in August of 2023 on the $36 million Multi-User Silicon Carbide Research and Fabrication Facility (MUSiC) in Fayetteville. Located in the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, the 18,660-sf building will produce microelectronic chips made with silicon carbide, a powerful semiconductor that outperforms basic silicon in several critical ways.
Oregon State University is planning to construct the $213 million Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex in Corvallis. Featuring a state-of-the-art NVIDIA supercomputer, the 145,000-sf facility will accommodate team-based research programs in semiconductors, materials science, artificial intelligence, and robotics. These next-generation technologies will provide new solutions to global challenges in climate science, oceanography, and water resources.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh is working in partnership with San Francisco-based Emerald Cloud Lab on a new $40 million facility that will house more than 200 discrete life science and chemistry research instruments, but very few human researchers, teachers, or students. Instead, the instruments and artificial intelligence tools within the new CMU Cloud Lab can be accessed remotely via the cloud from anywhere in the world to conduct experiments at any time of the day or night. The new 16,000-sf Cloud Lab will be housed in a CMU-owned building in Pittsburgh’s Bakery Square, 10 minutes from the main campus. Construction is scheduled to conclude by May 2023 and to be fully operational by the fall 2023 semester.
Cardiff University opened the £80 million Translational Research Hub in July of 2022 in the United Kingdom. Housing the Institute for Compound Semiconductors and the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, the 129,000-sf facility provides specialized labs, collaboration spaces, and offices where scientists can work side-by-side with industrial partners to create new technological solutions for pressing challenges in manufacturing, energy, transportation, and healthcare.
The U.S. Air Force will begin construction in spring of 2022 on the $279 million Compound Semiconductor Laboratory – Microsystem Integration Facility (CSL-MIF) in Lexington, Mass. Supporting the growth, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductors made of two or more different elements, the 160,000-sf structure will enable scientists and engineers to package heterogeneously integrated electronic prototypes for specialized applications.
A onetime University of Maryland student who struck it big in the tech industry returned to donate significant funding for a new computer science center—one that brings Silicon Valley facilities, visible building tech, and up-to-the-minute environmental controls into College Park. Brendan Iribe left school and ended up cofounding Oculus, which was later sold to Facebook for $2 billion. He returned to Maryland with a vision for inspiring innovators of the future by providing them with spaces in which to create new technologies.
Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is far more than the academic home for a new degree program in leading-edge technology. It is full of formal and casual study spaces designed to attract students from all disciplines on campus. It also boasts a 256-seat auditorium and a 2,300-sf atrium, both inviting venues for school functions and community events.
Merck KGaA opened the $58.5 million Centre for Electronic Applications in September of 2020. Located on the company's headquarters campus in Darmstadt, Germany, the 118,400-sf facility will accelerate the discovery and development of next-generation materials for semiconductors and displays. Providing collaborative lab and office environments for 140 employees, the structure features a sophisticated building façade with dynamic liquid crystal windows that can be easily adjusted to minimize glare and heat gain. Construction began on the project in summer of 2017.
Huawei Technologies is planning to construct a $1.3 billion R&D center in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Acting as the international headquarters for the company's optoelectronics business, the 538,000-sf complex will provide research, development, and manufacturing facilities for the creation of optical devices and modules. Catalyzing the growing innovation cluster in the region, the project will be built on a 500-acre brownfield site that Huawei acquired in 2018.
