Gov. Andrew Cuomo's economic development agency is giving GlobalFoundries $7.5 million to help pay for a new, $210 million extreme ultraviolet lithography tool being installed at its Fab 8 computer chip factory in Malta.

The grant is coming from a $208 million pool of money set aside in the latest state budget for various SUNY Polytechnic Institute programs across the state that needed attention following the school's bid-rigging scandal.

In this case, the grant to GlobalFoundries will help pay for $89.1 million in upgrades to a $120 million extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography tool that was originally supposed to be installed at SUNY Poly for a research partnership with the school.

The tool, called the NXE: 3300, is made by the Dutch company ASML.

After the SUNY Poly scandal broke, the EUV partnership between SUNY Poly and GlobalFoundries fell apart, followed by rumors that SUNY Poly owed GlobalFoundries more than $100 million.

It appears that those rumors, which could not be substantiated at the time, concerned what to do with the $120 million EUV tool, which had already been ordered from ASML.

Thursday's action by the ESD board appears to finally address the issue.

The $7.5 million grant from the state will be used to help GlobalFoundries upgrade its order to ASML's next-generation EUV machine, the NXE: 3400 scanner, which specializes in 7 nanometer and 5 nanometer etching.

The total cost of those upgrades is $89.1 million, with GlobalFoundries paying $81.6 million of that bill.

"The funding approved today by the board squares up the state's commitment to GlobalFoundries and supports their efforts to develop cutting-edge technology in New York state," ESD spokesman Jason Conwall said. "The state's longstanding partnership with GlobalFoundries has produced tremendous results for upstate New York, and today's action ensures it will continue to remain strong."

The state first approved funding for Fab 8 back in 2006 when the state Legislature and Gov. George Pataki approved $650 million in cash and nearly $1 billion in tax breaks for the plant, which today employs 3,000 people.

ESD officials said that the grant would support 12 new jobs and 400 existing jobs related to advanced lithography at Fab 8.

The ASML tool funding comes as GlobalFoundries is hiring contractors and new employees to gear up for the addition of 7 nanometer chip manufacturing at Fab 8, an effort expected to cost billions of dollars this year and next.