Oman-Backed Chipmaker GSME Opens AI Test Hub in Silicon Valley

A California-based chip design firm that is more than a third owned by an Oman Investment Authority (OIA) vehicle has struck a multi-year partnership with semiconductor test giant Teradyne to build a new artificial intelligence chip test centre in Silicon Valley, giving Oman's sovereign wealth fund a direct stake in one of the fastest-growing corners of the AI hardware supply chain.

• Who: GS Microelectronics US Inc (GSME), in which OIA's ICT investment arm ITHCA Group holds a 34.25% stake, and Nasdaq-listed Teradyne.
• What: A new 42,000-square-foot test and evaluation facility at GSME's Silicon Valley headquarters, combining GSME's chip design and manufacturing capabilities with Teradyne's automated test platforms.
• When: Announced on September 22, 2026, with the facility set to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.
• Focus: AI accelerator chips, silicon photonics, automotive semiconductors, power management and radio-frequency devices.
• Oman link: ITHCA acquired its stake in GSME through an $8 million investment aimed at building Omani design and engineering capacity in semiconductors.

🔬 What Was Announced

According to Oman Observer, GSME and Teradyne announced on September 22 a multi-year collaboration to establish an advanced semiconductor test and evaluation facility at GSME's new Silicon Valley headquarters. The companies confirmed the news in a joint press release, which said the centre will support device evaluations, engineering development, pilot production and technical training using Teradyne's latest test handlers and probers.

GSME's President and CEO, Farhat Jahangir, added in the same release: "This partnership marks a significant milestone for GSME and further strengthens our relationship with Teradyne."

The facility will specifically target chips used in hyperscale AI infrastructure, alongside silicon photonics, automotive electronics, power management and RF technologies, positioning it squarely at the intersection of the global AI hardware boom and Oman's semiconductor ambitions.

🇴🇲 Oman's Stake in the Deal

The Oman connection runs through ITHCA Group, the ICT-focused investment arm of the Oman Investment Authority. As Oman Observer reported earlier this year, ITHCA invested RO 5 million (about $13 million) in GSME, an investment that led to a fully integrated semiconductor design centre in Muscat and trained 92 graduates, 67 of whom now work in chip design roles. A separate report from Evertiq put ITHCA's stake at 34.25% following an $8 million investment.

That Muscat design centre has already produced tangible output: Omani engineers designed two test chips, known as Oman-1 and Oman-2, which were sent to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for testing, according to reporting on the original investment carried by Times of Oman. ITHCA's chief executive, Said bin Abdullah Al Mandhari, described the original tie-up as "a significant financial milestone and technological leap forward for the Sultanate of Oman" that would help the country emerge "as a key player in the global semiconductor arena."

The Teradyne partnership does not add new Omani capital or headcount on its own, but it materially expands what Oman's investment already touches: GSME's expansion into AI chip testing, one of the more capital-intensive and technically demanding parts of the semiconductor value chain, sits downstream of design work that Omani engineers have been directly involved in producing.

📈 Why the Expansion Matters

Chip testing and validation is a bottleneck the entire AI industry is racing to solve, as data centre operators order increasingly complex accelerator chips faster than test capacity can be built. By backing a company that is now building dedicated AI test infrastructure in Silicon Valley, ITHCA's investment gives Oman indirect exposure to that demand curve, beyond the earlier design-and-training phase of the relationship.

GSME is also expanding its test engineering teams across the United States, Taiwan, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council region as part of the partnership, per the Oman Observer report, which could eventually create additional pathways for Omani engineers trained under the ITHCA programme to work on more advanced test and validation projects, building on skills developed through efforts like the one detailed in Oman's semiconductor training partnership with Taiwan, where graduates have gone through hands-on fabrication training.

🧭 Why This Matters for Oman

Oman has been explicit that it does not intend to build its own chip fabrication plants, given the enormous capital costs involved, and is instead betting on design, engineering talent and strategic minority stakes to secure a foothold in the global semiconductor industry. The GSME-Teradyne partnership is a real-world test of that strategy: it shows an Omani sovereign investment vehicle benefiting from, and indirectly shaping, decisions made by a portfolio company as the global AI chip market accelerates.

For a country pursuing the digital economy targets set out in Oman Vision 2040, a stake in a firm now building AI-specific test infrastructure is a small but concrete data point in the broader push to move beyond oil revenue into technology-linked capital. It also complements the more visible domestic momentum in Oman's AI sector, including the 91% jump in registered AI companies reported in AI in Oman's recent coverage of the local startup count, by showing that Omani capital is also present further up the AI hardware supply chain, not just in software and services built on top of it.