by Nicholas Confessore

MALTA, N.Y. — A decade ago, it was 200 acres of pine trees near Saratoga Lake. A decade from now, it could be the booming heart of a new high-tech corridor, filled with some of the most sophisticated labs and plants in the country.

After years of haggling and setbacks, officials finally broke ground Friday on a $4.2 billion plant that will manufacture advanced microprocessors and would be the most advanced facility of its kind in the world. The plant, to be built on a 222-acre site, will be bigger than the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

Elected officials are counting on the expected completion of the factory in 2011 to provide a major boost to the ailing upstate region, where for years they have promised, and mostly failed, to deliver an economic resurgence.

The plant, which will manufacture chips for California-based Advanced Micro Devices and other chip design firms, will generate 1,400 new manufacturing jobs, officials say.

With the new factory as an anchor, they say, they can attract more investment to the area, building a cluster of businesses and academic centers that could ultimately rival Route 128 outside of Boston or North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

“You’ve got everything in place here to make the whole upstate region a leader in chip fab manufacture and high technology generally,” said Charles V. Wait, president of Adirondack Trust Corporation, a bank that helped finance early efforts to bring tech companies to the area. “When I grew up, you couldn’t find a job here in Saratoga, and everyone left after college.”

The plant will receive $1.37 billion in state aid over 15 years, making it one of the most heavily subsidized projects in state history. About half that money is capital aid that was appropriated in this year’s budget, a considerable gamble at a time of severe economic crisis.

“I was concerned about the value of taxpayer dollars versus the number of jobs that would be created,” said Gov. David A. Paterson, speaking at a news conference after the groundbreaking. “But when I started to see that we would move to global leadership in semiconductor development, I then realized that these are where the jobs of the next decade can come from.”

The new factory is also a gamble for Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s second-largest producer of computer chips.

Since January, the company has posted hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, and it expects sales to continue declining. In March, it partnered with the Advanced Technology Investment Company, created by the Abu Dhabi government, to spin off GlobalFoundries, which will build and own the New York plant. The Abu Dhabi backing will provide a hedge against any threats to the project posed by the continued recession in the United States.

While chip design is a big business in the United States, most chips are manufactured in China, Taiwan and Singapore. The factory here, some experts say, will help make the country globally competitive in chip manufacture for the first time in years.

“The grants and tax support level the playing field on a global basis,” said Douglas A. Grose, the chief executive of Global Foundries. “We looked all over the world for the next site. Every country that wanted a facility like this stepped forward.”

For state economic development officials, the groundbreaking was the culmination of more than a decade of planning that began during the administration of Gov. George E. Pataki.

Before state officials could entice an advanced chip factory to the region, they had to build an entire infrastructure to support it. That included not only a network of new roads and utility upgrades, but the creation of local academic centers, including an institute for nanotechnological engineering at the State University at Albany.

“There were times when we had some doubt along the way,” said Mr. Grose.

Even after Advanced Micro Devices settled on the project site, in 2006, there were hurdles, including zoning issues, the company’s financial difficulties and the need for more state financing. To smooth the way for timely construction, Mr. Paterson — once a skeptic about the project — jumped in to negotiate a labor agreement under which the factory would be built mostly by New York workers.

At Friday’s ceremony, a mound of dirt was piled in an air-conditioned tent with seven shovels ready for the groundbreaking ceremony, one for each of the speakers. Champagne awaited in an adjoining tent. The lineup of elected officials included Mr. Paterson, Mr. Pataki, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer and Joseph L. Bruno, the former State Senate leader who retired last year and who regards the factory as part of his legacy.

Mr. Bruno said he was so eager to see the project through final approval that he had put off retiring.

“I knew it was going to happen,” he said.