Is Abu Dhabi about to get a subtle Obama hat-tip / Eid mabrouk?

In a speech coming up this week, Barack Obama will give props to Globalfoundries, the Abu Dhabi-owned microchip joint venture, EETimes says.

With billions of delicious petrodollars, courtesy of Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company (Atic), Globalfoundries is about to build one of the world's most advanced semiconductor fabrication plants in upstate New York.

That makes Obama happy (as it should) and he will reference it in a speech on the role technology and education play in America's economic future, the report says. He's giving the speech at a community college near the site of the $4.2 billion factory, but there is no word yet on whether he will make a quick visit to the site.

He should. Of all the things that Gulf countries could possibly do with their epic oil wealth, investing into American high technology and R&D must be, from a US viewpoint, one of the best. As we've mentioned before, a significant number of the limited partners (LPs) that bankroll American venture capital companies are already from the Gulf.

And given that the speech is next Monday, it could turn out, depending on lunar observations, to be a nice way to say Eid mabrouk to an important, low-key US ally. Which reminds me - Eid mabrouk, Beep Beep readers. See you next week.