Dive Brief:
- GlobalFoundries has been selected as the technology provider and operator for two new semiconductor fabs at its Malta, New York, site under a U.S.-Japan trade and investment initiative, the chipmaker announced Oct. 14.
- Japan will provide up to $21 billion for the fabs to accelerate U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, strengthen supply chains and help meet automotive, industrial and connected infrastructure demand, GlobalFoundries said in a news release.
- The agreement calls for GlobalFoundries to contribute technological and manufacturing expertise and operational capabilities. The company expects to break ground on the first 300mm fab at its Malta site later this year and open the facility in 2029.
Dive Insight:
The news comes as GlobalFoundries has seen strong revenue performance, driven in part by 60% year-over-year growth in the communications infrastructure and data center end markets.
The company also has partnered with Japan-based chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. as demand grows for smart vehicles and automated industrial systems. Renesas is looking at GlobalFoundries’ expanded capacity in New York as an extension of its own production footprint, CEO Hidetoshi Shibata said in a statement.
Japan’s initial investment of about $10 billion will go toward building the first 300mm semiconductor fab, with about $10 billion more funding a second fab at a later date.
“Together, the two fabs will add significant new U.S. manufacturing capacity and reinforce GF’s ability to support customers worldwide,” GlobalFoundries said in the news release.
“This is a bold new initiative for semiconductor manufacturing, bringing together the United States and Japan with GF’s differentiated technology and decades of manufacturing expertise to accelerate trusted capacity in New York,” CEO Tim Breen said in a statement.
When fully operational, each fab is expected to boost U.S. manufacturing capacity of 300mm wafers by about 900,000 annually. The project is expected to create more than 1,000 skilled manufacturing jobs in New York’s capital region.
GlobalFoundries has also agreed with the U.S. Department of Commerce to amend one of its existing CHIPS and Science Act awards to reallocate $955 million toward silicon photonics, silicon-germanium and advanced packaging at its facilities in Malta and Burlington, Vermont.
“These investments will expand domestic manufacturing capacity for technologies increasingly critical to communications infrastructure and data centers,” the company said.
In a separate agreement, GlobalFoundries said the DOC will receive about 4% equity in the company.
