Globalfoundries is planning to expand its New York operation with a second plant, at a cost of about $10 billion. The company plans to file a formal application to expand its facility in Saratoga County this week.

However, it is still unclear if and when Globalfoundries will build the new fab. CEO Ajit Manocha hinted at the possibility of a new $10 billion plant in Malta, but he did not talk about the timeframe for the new fab. According to the Business Review, the company has not committed to building the fab just yet, but it is filing the application to lay the regulatory groundwork for the new plant, should the decision be made to actually build it.

Globalfoundries already employs 2,000 people at its Malta plant. Dubbed Fab 8, the existing facility features a 300,000-square-foot clean room and the company invested $6.9 billion in the site already, including a $2 billion sweetener in the form of state subsidies. Glofo will start construction of a new $2 billion R&D center in the spring and it will employ 1,000.

If Globalfoundries chooses to go ahead with the project, it could take three years to complete. Given the volatile economic climate and questions about long-term demand in the semiconductor market, it is not a simple decision to make.

“A lot of complex factors go into determining whether we need to build a second production facility,” Globalfoundries spokesman Travis Bullard told Business Review.

Bullard said the details about the second fab will be contained in an application submitted to the local administration later this week.

More here.