Abu Dhabi to build $6bn microchip factory

16 September 2010

State-owned company to build regions first microchip manufacturing plant

The UAE’s Advanced Technology Investment Company (Atic) has announced plans to build a $6bn-plus microchip factory at Abu Dhabi.

The facility will be owned and operated by the Atic subsidiary Globalfoundries and will be located on a three square kilometre site next to Abu Dhabi International airport. It will be the first facilty of its type in the Middle East.

“The technology cluster will enable Abu Dhabi to become a key hub in the semiconductor foundry business,” Atic said in an emailed statement. “The semiconductor facilities will be amongst the most advanced on earth.

“The figures of $6 to $7billion are the estimated costs of what it would take to build a state of the art fabricating facility anywhere in the world in 2015.”  

The factory will start production in 2015 and will be the fourth production facility operated by Globalfoundries. The other factories are located in Germany and Singapore with a facility in the US due to come on stream in 2012.  

“We are committed to delivering on our mandate to make strategic investments in areas that will impact the diversification of Abu Dhabi’s economy,” Ibrahim Ajami, chief executive of Atic told MEED.  

Atic is a technology investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Globalfoundries is headquartered in Silicon Valley in the US.

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