MALTA & STILLWATER — The Foundry Co. will donate $5 million over the next four years to the towns of Malta and Stillwater as a give-back to the communities that will host a $4.5 billion computer chip manufacturing operation.

The Foundry Co. is an offshoot of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which on Tuesday announced a commitment to build a state-of-the-art chip factory in the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the two towns.

Company officials met with local and state leaders Wednesday near the construction site to applaud accomplishments and present a timeline to turn blueprints and contracts into a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing operation.

Foundry Co. Project Manager Terry Caudell said an office will be opened in the tech park on Dec. 1 and a complete set of designs for the manufacturing plant will be completed in the coming months, with construction expected to be under way by summer.

“We should see clearing of the area in March or April and the start of serious ground breaking by mid-year,” he said.

Company officials said their commitment to the communities will be manifested immediately, as a complex of athletic fields will be built for public use next year on 32 acres of land within the campus.

According to Ward Tisdale, AMD’s manager of global community affairs, the baseball, softball and soccer fields will cost about $1 million.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing complex will be unmatched in the world, according to retired state senator Joseph Bruno, who was saluted Wednesday for his leadership in bringing AMD to Saratoga County.

Bruno took the opportunity to deride skeptics who until Tuesday had said they doubted AMD would solidify plans to locate locally.

“A few weeks ago I was getting calls from people saying, ‘It’s never going to happen,’ ” Bruno said. “[AMD’s chairman and former CEO] Hector Ruiz and his team looked all over the world, and they decided this is the best site in the world.”

He said that as leader of the state Senate, he often had to push to keep the project moving forward and to provide funding for the technology park.

“Every time another $10 million or $20 million was needed, it was Republican Senate money that came through,” Bruno said.

He added that Republicans and Democrats finally supported the project, and he thanked former Republican Gov. George Pataki and current Democratic Gov. David Paterson for their efforts.

“I skipped a governor in between there. I’ve forgotten his name,” Bruno quipped, referring to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned following his implication in a prostitution scandal.

Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Joseph Dalton also took a swipe at local skeptics who said the state was making a mistake offering $1 billion in incentives and aid for the project.

“To the naysayers who said it’ll never happen, guess what, guys? It happened. And to those who said this project will cost $1 million [in state money] per job, let me say we will get back every penny,” Dalton said. “It will be paid back in three years, and after that, all the money earned will be gravy.”