UPDATE: President Obama plans official visit to GlobalFoundries (with video)

PHOTOGRAPHER: David Lombardo

President Barack Obama plans to make an official visit to GlobalFoundries in Malta on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the president’s travel plans.

The trip is expected to consist of a campaign speech on the economy, sources said. Official announcment of the trip is expected later today.

It will be Obama’s third trip to the Capital Region since being elected, with previous visits to Hudson Valley Community College in Troy and the General Electric plant in Schenectady.

Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus, told of the president’s plans by the Gazette, said the visit to the GlobalFoundries’ Fab8 campus at Luther Forest makes sense considering the international attention the site has received for creating jobs.

“It’s one of the largest manufacturing success stories in the last couple years,” he said. “It’s the largest economic development project in the United States, so I think it is appropriate that the president would come here and recongize that. It’s a wonderful spotlight to shine on Saratoga County.”

View Obama’s 2011 visit

View story, photos and videos from the president’s visit to General Electric in Schenectady in January 2011. Click HERE.

The GlobalFoundries project has recently been featured in a national ABC News segment and in The Economist.

Shimkus added that there had been some talk about Obama visiting GlobalFoundries when the site was still under construction, but it had to be put off because of safety concerns since there wasn’t a completed structure in which to host the visit.

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