TECH VALLEY TESTS CACHET AT TRADE SHOW.(MAIN)

Byline: KENNETH AARON Business writer -

SAN FRANCISCO -- The question this year isn't about geography. People at the semiconductor industry's biggest trade show know how to find Albany on the map.

The question of the day at Semicon West is when the University at Albany's Albany Nanotech research initiative will be up and running. In the year since International Sematech announced plans to open a research shop at UAlbany, some say the Capital Region's cachet is on the rise.

The annual event, held in San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, offers an overwhelming array of companies and the things they use in making semiconductors. More than 1,500 …