While STMicroelectronics is planning to downsize its workforce substantially at its Malta plant, a computer chip company plans to open a $4.6 billion factory in Malta...only this is a town in New York State!

Site plans for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s billion-dollar factory have been submitted to "the town of Malta". In fact, it transpires that the facility, which will open in June, will be constructed at the Luther Forest Technology Campus, which straddles Malta and the town of Stillwater, far away in New York, the US.

Located in the centre of the Saratoga County, Malta's population stands at about 13,000.

But it is not just the geographical facts that highlight the discrepancy. The planning methods point to it too: Much emphasis is laid on the review by the "Malta Planning Board". The site plans, a collection of detailed maps and reports, are about seven inches thick, while construction should take place six days a week and 10 hours a day. Town permission would be sought when night and Sunday construction is needed.

And maybe the island of Malta still has a ray of hope: The company, which has two factories in Germany and does not seem to be too badly affected by the global economic crisis, is forecasting the need for additional chip capacity in 2012.