US-based semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries, owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, announced plans on Wednesday to invest $16 billion to expand semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging in the states of New York and Vermont.
According to a news release from the UAE-backed company, it is collaborating with Apple, SpaceX, AMD, Qualcomm, NXP and General Motors on the project.
“These companies partner with GlobalFoundries to support their production of US-made chips, underscoring GF’s role as a trusted supplier of essential semiconductors and a key enabler of supply chain security,” the company said.
According to GlobalFoundries, the investment announcement is the result of work with President Donald Trump's administration as well as “support from leading technology companies aiming to onshore critical components of their supply chain”.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook, noting that GlobalFoundries has supplied the Cupertino-based technology giant with chips since 2010, welcomed the investment announcement.
“We’re excited to see them expand right here in the US and these chips are an essential part of Apple products like iPhone, and they’re a powerful example of American manufacturing leadership,” he said.
General Motors president Mark Reuss also spoke highly of the investment, reflecting on its potential to safeguard the US supply chain.
“Semiconductors are critical to the future of vehicles, and their importance will only grow,” he said.
“GlobalFoundries’ investment supports our work to secure a reliable, US-based chip supply – essential for delivering the safety, infotainment and features our customers expect.”
The investment plans come weeks after UAE President Sheikh Mohamed and Mr Trump witnessed the unveiling of plans for a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi during the US leader's visit to the Emirates in May.
The campus will include five gigawatts of capacity for AI data centres in Abu Dhabi, providing a regional platform from which US hyperscalers will be able to offer latency-friendly services to nearly half of the population living within 3,200km of the UAE.
The AI campus came after months of consternation from US technology companies and UAE officials concerned about new chip export policies announced during the final days of former president Joe Biden's administration.
Critics of the policy feels it put an unfair ceiling on the UAE's peaceful AI aspirations, yet with the announcement of the AI campus, experts have said that the worries over chip access have largely subsided.
During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Senator Christopher Coons told Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick he was concerned that the recently announced deal would put the US at risk of being dependent on the Middle East for computing capacity.
Mr Lutnick, who called the GlobalFoundries investment an example of a return to US manufacturing of semiconductors, said he agreed that more than half of compute must be done on US shores.
“The deal with the UAE said if you buy a significant number of chips, you will invest in America to build data centres in America for an equal amount of chips. So that investment must be dual there and here,” Mr Lutnick told politicians during the hearing.
As for the GlobalFoundries investment, the company's chief executive Tim Breen hailed what it would mean for the US.
“With all these technologies and more manufactured right here in the US, GlobalFoundries is proud to play its part in accelerating America’s semiconductor leadership.”
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
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Rating: 1/5
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
