Dubai has teamed with Intel, a German foundry, and a German state bank to transfer chipmaking technology to the United Arab Emirates member. The sheikdom has plans to begin building its first fab in 2004. The foundry will focus on 130- or 90-nm processes, according to reports.

To expedite the development, the emirate has invested in Communicant Semiconductor Technologies, a 200-mm SiGe and CMOS foundry under construction in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, 50 miles east of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Set to begin production by September 2003, the $1.3-billion foundry will tap into the outsourcing trend and the burgeoning communications market. Intel has an equity position in the foundry.

In turn, Communicant is expected to build a $1.7 billion fab in Silicon Oasis that is set for ramp-up by 2007, according to press reports. The goal of the so-called Dubai Silicon Oasis is to enable the 1500-square-mile emirate to diversify an economy highly dependent on natural resources. Mohammed al-Zarouni, director general of Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority, told Reuters that Dubai could become "one of the world's foremost centers for the creation of intellectual property and semiconductors."

As in the other chipmaking centers, a support infrastructure could coalesce around the Dubai foundry. Certainly, the desert sheikdom has an abundance of one natural resource that is a sine qua non for wafer processing.