SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK // Globalfoundries expects to create 6,400 jobs when its microchip factory is completed in Saratoga in 2012 and to generate about Dh1.1 billion (US$300 mllion) each year for the New York state economy.
The project is part of the company's efforts to tap into rising demand for consumer electronics such as tablet computers and smartphones, in which microchips are a critical component.
Work on Globalfoundries's $4.6bn plant in New York state is about half-finished, with the foundry forecast to be operational in the second half of 2012. It is expected to employ 1,400 people directly and indirectly generate more than 5,000 jobs.
"For every job we create internally, it creates another five jobs externally," said Norm Armour, the vice president and general manager of Globalfoundries in New York.
"What we're doing here is pretty analogous to what Abu Dhabi will be going through … We're like a big fish in a small pond. We're definitely going to have a huge impact in the area."
Some of the jobs generated by the Globalfoundries facility will include related service and supply functions as well as banking, property services and education to support the influx of well-paid Globalfoundriesemployees.
Sami Issa, the executive director of Abu Dhabi ecosystem development for Advanced Technology Investment Company, which controls Globalfoundries, expects a similar development in the capital over the next five years when the company builds a foundry in the emirate.
"We'll also have research and development partners we hope to attract to Abu Dhabi, which [will] provide additional employment and an ecosystem for further innovation, similar to New York," Mr Issa said.
"That's one of the benefits of establishing a global network where we can tap into the best talent and talent exchange worldwide."
In New York state, local officials are hailing the coming of Globalfoundries to the state's central area as "transformational".
The region's manufacturing sector peaked during the Second World War, with more than 50,000 people working for a factory owned by General Electric, but has steadily dwindled.
"Globalfoundries, this project, to say it's transformational is putting it lightly," said Dennis Brobston, the president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation.
"This is groundbreaking because it's not just the jobs, it's the investment. You don't build it for $6bn, invest in it for 10 years and walk away. This is an investment for a long period of time."
Silicon wafers are the foundation for making the microchips needed to produce electronic goods.
