(Reuters) – Two of the world’s largest chipmakers, TSMC and Samsung Electronics, are in talks to build a semiconductor project in the United Arab Emirates that could be worth more than $100 billion over the next few years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
TSMC’s top executives recently visited the UAE to discuss a complex of factories that would rival the company’s largest, most advanced facilities in Taiwan, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, a maker of smartphones, televisions and memory chips, is also considering setting up a new large-scale chip manufacturing operation in the country in the coming years, the paper reported, citing anonymous sources.
Samsung declined to comment on the Journal report, while TSMC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Samsung Electronics executives recently visited the UAE to discuss the initiative, the Journal reported, but added that the talks were still in their early stages and could face technical and other obstacles.
According to the WSJ, initial terms of the talks would see the project funded by the UAE, with Abu Dhabi-based government development agency Mubadala playing a leading role.
The broader goal is to increase global semiconductor production and help lower prices without hurting chipmakers’ profitability, the paper added.
As tech trade accelerates in the region, Washington has become increasingly concerned that the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could become a conduit for advanced U.S. AI technology to reach China.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)