GlobalFoundries Inc. is a multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company domiciled in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Malta, New York.[3] Created by the divestiture of the manufacturing arm of AMD in March 2009, the company was privately owned by Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, until an initial public offering (IPO) in October 2021. Mubadala remains the majority owner of the company with an 82% stake.[4]
The company manufactures integrated circuits on wafers designed for markets such as smart mobile devices, automotive, aerospace and defense, consumer internet of things (IoT) and for data centers and communications infrastructure.
As of 2023, GlobalFoundries is the third-largest semiconductor foundry by revenue.[5][6][7] It is the only one with operations in Singapore, the European Union, and the United States: one 200 mm and one 300 mm wafer fabrication plant in Singapore; one 300 mm plant in Dresden, Germany; one 200 mm plant in Essex Junction, Vermont (where it is the largest private employer)[8] and one 300 mm plant in Malta, New York.[9]
GlobalFoundries is a "Trusted Foundry" for the U.S. federal government and has similar designations in Singapore and Germany, including certified international Common Criteria standard (ISO 15408, CC Version 3.1).[10][11]
On October 28, 2021, the company sold shares in an IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange at US$47 each, at the higher end of its targeted price range, and raised about US$2.6 billion.[12]
History
On 7 October 2008, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced it planned to go fabless and spin off its semiconductor manufacturing business into a new company temporarily called The Foundry Company. Mubadala announced its subsidiary Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) agreed to pay $700 million to increase its stake in AMD's semiconductor manufacturing business to 55.6 percent (up from 8.1 percent). Mubadala would invest $314 million for 58 million new shares, increasing its stake in AMD to 19.3 percent, and $1.2 billion of AMD's debt would be transferred to The Foundry Company.[13] On 8 December 2008, amendments were announced: AMD would own approximately 34.2 percent and ATIC would own approximately 65.8 percent of The Foundry Company.[14]
On 4 March 2009, GlobalFoundries was officially announced.[15] On 7 September 2009 ATIC announced it would acquire Chartered Semiconductor, based in Singapore, for S$2.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) and integrate
Fabrication foundries in operation
300 mm fabrication facilities
Fab 1
Fab 1, located in Dresden, Germany, is a 364,512 m2 plant which was transferred to GlobalFoundries on its inception: Fab 36 and Fab 38 were renamed Module 1 and Module 2, respectively. Each module can produce 25,000 300 mm diameter wafers per month.[9][62]
Module 1 is a 300 mm wafer production facility. It is capable of manufacturing wafers at 40 nm, 28 nm BULK and 22 nm FDSOI. Module 2 was originally named "(AMD) Fab 30" and was a 200 mm fab producing 30,000 Wafer Outs Per Month, but has now been converted into a 300 mm wafer fab.[63] Together with other clean room extensions like the Annex they have a maximum full capacity of 80,000 of 300 mm wafers/month (180,000 200 mm wafers/month equivalent), using technologies of 45 nm
Mergers and acquisitions
Chartered Semiconductor
The majority investor of GlobalFoundries, Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Co., announced on September 6, 2009, that it has agreed to acquire Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., for a total of $3.9 billion, with Chartered's operations being folded into GlobalFoundries.[78]
Chartered Semiconductor is a member of the Common Platform, IBM's semiconductor technology alliance. GlobalFoundries is a JDA partner of Common Platform Technology Alliance.
IBM Microelectronics
In October 2014, GlobalFoundries received US$1.5 billion from IBM to accept taking over IBM Microelectronics, including a 200 mm fab (now Fab 9) in Essex Junction, Vermont, and a 300 mm fab (now Fab 10) in East Fishkill, New York. As part of the agreement, GlobalFoundries was to have been the sole provider of IBM's server processor chips for the next 10 years.
Process technologies
GlobalFoundries' 22 nm FD-SOI process is second-sourced from STMicroelectronics.[90] STMicroelectronics signed a sourcing and licensing agreement with Samsung for the same technology later.
GlobalFoundries' 14 nm 14LPP FinFET process is second-sourced from Samsung Electronics. GlobalFoundries' 12 nm FinFET nodes are based on Samsung's 14nm 14LPP process.[22]
Number of processes currently listed here:
See also
External links
References
- About Us GlobalFoundries, 28 September 2016, retrieved 2019-07-04^
- GlobalFoundries Inc. 2024 Annual Report (Form 20-F) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 20 March 2025, retrieved 21 March 2025^
- "GLOBALFOUNDRIES Moves Corporate Headquarters to its Most Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility in New York