By Gordon, Jim IBM is investing in the lower Hudson Valley to the tune of $1 billion, which it says will go to the East Fishkill semiconductor plant over the next three years. Additionally, the state will invest $65 million in the plant.

By Woods, Lynn IBM Corp.'s latest round of layoffs isn't expected to have much effect on the local economy, according to one industry expert. IBM last week said it is laying off 450 workers, 300 of whom are based at its Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill facilities.

IBM Corp. said Monday it would lay off 450 U.S. workers as part of a resource action to cut costs in its Systems and Technologies Group. Some 300 of the laid-off workers are at IBM's semiconductor plant in East Fishkill, N.Y., a company spokesman told The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal.

By Larry Rulison, Times Union, Albany, N.Y. Jan. 13--ALBANY -- IBM Corp., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.