Tech Valley is a marketing name for the eastern part of the
U.S. state of
New York, encompassing the
Capital District and the
Hudson Valley. Originated in 1998 to promote the greater
Albany area as a
high-tech competitor to regions such as
Silicon Valley and
Boston, it has since grown to represent the counties in New York between
IBM's
Westchester County plants in the south and the
Canadian border to the north. The area's
high technology ecosystem is supported by technologically focused
academic institutions including
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the
State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. Tech Valley encompasses 19 counties straddling both sides of the
Adirondack Northway and the
New York Thruway, and with heavy
state taxpayer subsidy, has experienced significant growth in the
computer hardware side of the high-technology industry, with great strides in the
nanotechnology sector,
digital electronics design, and water- and electricity-dependent
integrated microchip circuit manufacturing, involving companies including IBM in
Armonk and its
Thomas J. Watson Research Center in
Yorktown Heights,
GlobalFoundries in
Malta, and others.