Chip maker enters a different class

Globalfoundries, the Abu Dhabi computer chip venture, will expand its business to “a whole new class of customers”, when the acquisition of Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor is completed later this year, its chief executive said.

The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), the Government-owned investment business that runs Globalfoundries in a joint venture with the California-based chip maker AMD, said last week that it had struck a deal to buy Chartered for Dh14.4 billion (US$3.92bn) in cash and debt.

“What this does for us is gives us an even bigger worldwide capacity footprint,” said Doug Grose, who was named as the interim chief of Chartered after the acquisition.