ATIC plans to make Abu Dhabi a hub for semiconductor production

The Abu Dhabi government's investment arm, Advanced Technology Investment Co, (Atic) which is the majority owner of contract chip maker Globalfoundries Inc, yesterday said that it plans to bring the global chip-making industry to Abu Dhabi to help the country diversify its revenues  from oil to advanced technology-based industries.

Speaking at a press conference at Taipei's Computex trade show, Ibrahim Ajami, chief executive, ATIC, said that his company would build an advanced tech-park in Abu Dhabi to make the sheikhdom a hub for semiconductor production.

"Abu Dhabi is a wealthy nation today because it sits on a lot of resources, oil and gas resources. But oil is finite and will one day run out. Our plan is to bring the semiconductor industry to Abu Dhabi one day," Ajami told his audience.

Ajmi said that a 3km square advanced tech-park would be built near the Abu Dhabi airport and ATIC would bring in other semiconductor companies to Abu Dhabi by offering different schemes of investment required for setting up.

Atic had invested $1.4 billion in October 2008 to form a partnership with semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), pushing it to spin off its manufacturing facilities in October 2008 into a new $5-billion joint venture to create a leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company "Globalfoundries."

At the same time the investment arm of Abu Dhabi, Mubadala, agreed to invest $314 million in the Sunnyvale, California-based Globalfoundries, to which AMD turned over its manufacturing facilities that included two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as related assets and intellectual property rights.