The Abu Dhabi Government-owned Advanced Technology Investment Company is spending a whopping $7bn building its first microchip manufacturing plant. The company selected a site for the plant near Abu Dhabi International Airport and it claims it will be the first microchip factory in the Middle East when it begins production in 2015.

ATIC’s is behind the Globalfoundries microchip business which was an AMD spin off. It has already invested $3.6bn expanding that business improving chip-making plants in Germany and the US.

In March, ATIC paid AMD $2.1bn for a 65.8 per cent stake in Globalfoundries. While ATIC’s stake has since grown to 73 per cent since March, the spokesman said it did not intend to take 100 per cent ownership of Globalfoundaries.