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.
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 their semiconductor manufacturing business into a new company temporarily called The Foundry Company. Mubadala announced their subsidiary Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) agreed to pay $700 million to increase their stake in AMD's semiconductor manufacturing business to 55.6 percent (up from 8.1 percent). Mubadala will invest $314 million for 58 million new shares, increasing their stake in AMD to 19.3 percent. $1.2 billion of AMD's debt will be transferred to The Foundry Company.[13] On 8 December 2008 amendments were announced. AMD will own approximately 34.2 percent and ATIC will 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 Chartered Semiconductor into GlobalFoundries.[16] On 13 January 2010 GlobalFoundries announced it had finalized the integration of Chartered Semiconductor.[17]
On 4 March 2012 AMD announced they divested their final 14 percent stake in the company, which concluded AMD's multi-year plan to divest its manufacturing arm.[18]
On 20 October 2014 IBM announced the sale of its microelectronics business to GlobalFoundries.[19]
As of 2015 the firm owned ten fabrication plants. Fab 1 is in Dresden, Germany. Fabs 2 through 7 are in Singapore. Fabs 8 through 10 are in the northeast United States. These sites are supported by a global network of R&D, design enablement, and customer support in Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, India, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[20] In February 2017, the company announced a new 300 Fab [Fab 11] in China for growing semiconductor market in China.[21]
In 2016 GlobalFoundries licensed the 14 nm 14LPP FinFET process from Samsung Electronics. In 2018 GlobalFoundries developed the 12 nm 12LP node based on Samsung's 14 nm 14LPP process.[22]
On 27 August 2018 GlobalFoundries announced it had cancelled their 7LP process due to a strategy shift to focus on specialized processes instead of leading edge performance.[23]
On 29 January 2019 AMD announced an amended wafer supply agreement with GlobalFoundries. AMD now has full flexibility for wafer purchases from any foundry at 7nm or beyond. AMD and GlobalFoundries agreed to commitments and pricing at 12nm for 2019 through 2021.[24]
On 20 May 2019 Marvell Technology Group announced it would acquire Avera Semi from GlobalFoundries for $650 million and potentially an additional $90 million. Avera Semi was GlobalFoundries' ASIC Solutions division, which had been a part of IBM's semiconductor manufacturing business.[25] On 1 February 2019 GlobalFoundries announced the $236 million sale of its Fab 3E in Tampines, Singapore, to Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) as part of their plan to exit the MEMS business by 31 December 2019.[26] On April 22, 2019, GlobalFoundries announced the $430 million sale of their Fab 10 in East Fishkill, New York, to ON Semiconductor. GlobalFoundries has received $100 million and will receive $330 million at the end of 2022 when ON Semiconductor will gain full operational control. The 300mm fab is capable of 65 nm to 40 nm and was a part of IBM.[27] On August 15, 2019, GlobalFoundries announced a multi-year supply agreement with Toppan Photomasks. The agreement included Toppan acquiring GlobalFoundries' Burlington photomask facility.[28]
In February 2020 GlobalFoundries announced that its embedded magnetoresistive non-volatile memory (eMRAM) entered production which is the industry's first production ready eMRAM.[29]
In May 2020 GlobalFoundries stated it was fully abandoning its plans of opening Fab 11 in Chengdu, China due to reported rivalry between the latter and the US.[30] This was three years after the manufacturer announced it would invest $10 billion to open the new fab. But the fab was never brought online.[31]
On 26 April 2021 GlobalFoundries announced that effective immediately, it was transferring its global headquarters from Santa Clara, California to its Malta, New York campus (home to Fab 8).[32]
In August 2022 Google expanded its open-source chip design and manufacturing efforts by partnering with GlobalFoundries to develop an open-source process design kit (PDK) based on the foundry's 180 nm node.[33][34] In October 31, Google announced they would sponsor no-cost OpenMPW (multi-project wafer) shuttle runs for it in the coming months.[35]
GlobalFoundries was a gold sponsor for the Special Olympics Vermont Penguin Plunge which raised over $500,000 in 2022 to support Vermont athletes.[36]
In February 2023 GlobalFoundries signed a deal to become the exclusive provider of US-produced semiconductor chips for General Motors amid an ongoing shift to electric vehicles in what was referred to as an "industry-first" deal. It would help General Motors reduce the amount of different chips needed in its vehicles. The companies planned for production in Malta, New York. The deal would not lead to new jobs right away but would rather ensure stability in the supply of chips. At the time of the announcement, GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caufield said the full effect of this increase in production would be seen in two to three years.[37][38][39][40][41]
On September 21, 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awarded GlobalFoundries a 10-year contract for the supply of securely manufactured semiconductors for critical aerospace and defense applications. With an initial award of $17.3 million and an overall 10-year spending ceiling of $3.1 billion, this agreement ensures the DoD and its contractors have access to GF's U.S.-made semiconductors. This contract also provides access to GF's design ecosystem, IP libraries, and advanced technologies.[42]
Expansion and Investment under the CHIPS and Science Act
In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a $1.5 billion planned investment in GF as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, making GF the recipient of the first major award from the funding initiative. This significant investment is set to bolster GF's efforts to expand and introduce new manufacturing capacities, thereby enhancing the production of critical semiconductors for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital sectors.[45]
On 1 October 2019 TSMC filed patent infringement lawsuits against GlobalFoundries in the US, Germany and Singapore. TSMC claimed GlobalFoundries' 12 nm, 14 nm, 22 nm, 28 nm and 40 nm nodes have infringed on 25 of its patents.[50]
On 29 October 2019 TSMC and GlobalFoundries announced a resolution to the dispute. The companies agreed to a new life-of-patentscross-license for all of their existing semiconductor patents as well as new patents to be filed by the companies in the next ten years.[51][52][53][54][55]
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 300mm diameter wafers per month.[9][60]
Module 1 is a 300mm wafer production facility. It is capable of manufacturing wafers at 40nm, 28nm BULK and 22nm FDSOI. Module 2 was originally named "(AMD) Fab 30" and was a 200mm fab producing 30,000 Wafer Outs Per Month, but has now been converted into a 300mm wafer fab.[61] Together with other clean room extensions like the Annex they have a maximum full capacity of 80,000 of 300mm wafers/month (180,000 200mm wafers/month equivalent), using technologies of 45 nm and below.
In September 2016, GlobalFoundries announced Fab 1 would be refit to produce 12nm fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) products.[62] The company expected customer's products would begin to tape out in the first half of 2019.
In 2020 the Dresden plant had a capacity of 300,000 wafers per year.[63]
In 2023, it was announced that GlobalFoundries plans to invest $8 billion in its Dresden facility, doubling the capacity of its largest production site.[64]
Fab 7
Fab 7, located in Woodlands, Singapore, is an operational 300mm Fab, originally owned by Chartered Semiconductor. It produces wafers at 130nm to 40nm on bulk CMOS and SOI processes. It has a maximum full capacity of 50,000 300mm wafers/month (112,500 200mm wafers/month equivalent), using 130 to 40nm technology.[65]
4/15/2021 Fab 7's target capacity will be expanded to 70–80kpcs/M.
Fab 8
Fab 8, located in Luther Forest Technology Campus, Saratoga County, New York, United States is a 300mm fab. This fabrication plant was constructed by GF as a green field fab for advanced technologies. It is capable of manufacturing 14nm node technology. The plant's construction began in July 2009 and the company started mass production in 2012.[9][66] It has a maximum manufacturing capacity of 60,000 of 300mm wafers/month, or the equivalent of over 135,000 of 200mm wafers/month. In September 2016, GlobalFoundries announced it would make a multibillion-dollar investment to refit Fab 8 to produce 7nm FinFET parts starting in the second half of 2018.[67] The process was planned to initially use deep ultraviolet lithography, and eventually transition to extreme ultraviolet lithography.[68]
However, in August 2018, GlobalFoundries made the decision to suspend 7nm development and planned production, citing the unaffordable costs to outfit Fab 8 for 7nm production. GlobalFoundries held open the possibility of resuming 7nm operations in the future if additional resources could be secured. From this decision GlobalFoundries executed a shift in company strategy to focus more effort on FD-SOI manufacturing and R&D. Fab 8 serves a crucial function to supply AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) with CPU wafers for its Zen-based Ryzen, Threadripper and Epyc lines of CPUs. The original Zen and the Zen+ CPUs are of a monolithic design which were produced at GlobalFoundries facilities in Malta, NY. Going forward, AMD pursued a chiplet design with the Zen 2 series. Zen 2 desktop and server processors consist of a 14/12nm manufactured I/O die surrounded by a number of 7nm core dies. When GlobalFoundries announced the suspension of 7nm operations, AMD executed a shift in plans transferring production of the 7nm core dies to TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). There was speculation in some quarters as to where manufacture of the core dies would take place. In AMD's 2018 fourth quarter financial conference call which took place on January 29, 2019, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced the WSA (Wafer Supply Agreement) governing production and acquisition by AMD from GlobalFoundries had been amended for the seventh time. The amendment stated AMD would continue to procure 12nm node and above from GlobalFoundries while giving AMD latitude to purchase 7nm node manufactured wafers from any source free from paying any royalties. The agreement will run through 2024 and ensures that GlobalFoundries will have work for its Malta plant for that time period. Pricing commitments for wafers run through 2021 when it is likely the WSA will be amended again.[69][needs update]
Accreditation as a Trusted Supplier
In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), through the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO), accredited GlobalFoundries' advanced manufacturing facility in Malta, New York, as a Category 1A Trusted Supplier. This accreditation enables GlobalFoundries to manufacture secure semiconductors for a wide range of critical aerospace and defense applications.[70]
Fab 10
Fab 10,[71] located in East Fishkill, New York, United States, was previously known as IBM Building 323. It became part of GlobalFoundries operations with the acquisition of IBM Microelectronics. It currently manufactures technology down to the 14nm node. In April 2019, it was announced that this fab has been sold to ON Semiconductor for $430m. The facility will be transferred over within three years.[72]
On February 10, 2023, Onsemi successfully completed its acquisition of GF's 300mm East Fishkill, New York site and fabrication facility.[73]
Fab 2, located in Woodlands, Singapore. This fab is capable of manufacturing wafers at 600 to 350nm for use in selected automotive IC products, High Voltage power management IC and Mixed-signal products.
Fab 3/5
Fab 3/5, located in Woodlands, Singapore. This fab is capable of manufacturing wafers at 350 to 180nm for use in high voltage IC's for small panel display drivers and mobile power management modules.
Fab 3E
Fab 3E, located in Tampines, Singapore. This fab produces 180 nm wafers for use in selected automotive IC products, High Voltage power management IC and Mixed-Signal products with embedded non-volatile memory technology.
In January 2019 GlobalFoundries announced that it had agreed to sell its Fab 3E in Singapore to Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation with transfer of ownership set to be completed on December 31, 2019.
Fab 6
Fab 6 located in Woodlands, Singapore, is a copper fabrication facility that is capable of manufacturing integrated CMOS and RFCMOS products for applications such as Wi-Fi & Bluetooth devices at 180 to 110nm processes. The facility was later converted to 300mm and merged with Fab 7, a facility for manufacturing products based on the 300nm node.
Fab 9
Fab 9,[71] located in the village of Essex Junction, Vermont, United States, near Vermont's largest city of Burlington, became part of GlobalFoundries operations with the acquisition of IBM Microelectronics. The fab manufactures technologies down to the 90nm node and is the largest private employer within the state of Vermont. The site also hosted a captive mask shop, with development efforts down to the 7 nanometer node, until it was sold to Toppan in 2019.[74]
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.[75]
Chartered Semiconductor is a member of the Common Platform, IBM's semiconductor technology alliance. GlobalFoundries is a JDA partner of Common Platform Technology Alliance.
In October 2014, GlobalFoundries received US$1.5 billion from IBM to accept taking over IBM Microelectronics, including a 200mm fab (now Fab 9) in Essex Junction, Vermont, and a 300mm fab (now Fab 10) in East Fishkill, New York. As part of the agreement, GlobalFoundries will be the sole provider of IBM's server processor chips for the next 10 years. The deal closed on July 1, 2015.[76] IBM-India employees who moved over to GlobalFoundries as part of the acquisition are now part of its Bangalore office.[77]
In April 2019 ON Semiconductor and GlobalFoundries announced a $430 million agreement to transfer ownership of GlobalFoundries 300mm Fab 10 in East Fishkill, New York, to ON Semiconductor.[78]
GlobalFoundries' 22 nm FD-SOI process is second-sourced from STMicroelectronics.[80] STMicroelectronics signed a sourcing and licensing agreement with Samsung for the same technology later.[81]
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuits (ICs) such as computer processors, microcontrollers, and memory chips. It is a multiple-step photolithographic and physico-chemical process during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer, typically made of pure single-crystal semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications.
In electronics, a wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor, such as a crystalline silicon, used for the fabrication of integrated circuits and, in photovoltaics, to manufacture solar cells.
STMicroelectronics NV is a European multinational technology corporation. It was founded in 1987 from the merger of two government-owned semiconductor companies: Thomson Semiconducteurs of France and SGS Microelettronica of Italy. The company is incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland. Its shares are traded on Euronext Paris, the Borsa Italiana and the New York Stock Exchange. STMicro is the largest European semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the world's most valuable semiconductor company, the world's largest dedicated independent ("pure-play") semiconductor foundry, and its country's largest company, with headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Although the central government of Taiwan is the largest individual shareholder, the majority of TSMC is owned by foreign investors. In 2023, the company was ranked 44th in the Forbes Global 2000. Taiwan's exports of integrated circuits amounted to $184 billion in 2022, accounted for nearly 25 percent of Taiwan's GDP. TSMC constitutes about 30 percent of the Taiwan Stock Exchange's main index.
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclusively, located in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Fabless companies can benefit from lower capital costs while concentrating their research and development resources on the end market. Some fabless companies and pure play foundries may offer integrated-circuit design services to third parties.
In semiconductor manufacturing, silicon on insulator (SOI) technology is fabrication of silicon semiconductor devices in a layered silicon–insulator–silicon substrate, to reduce parasitic capacitance within the device, thereby improving performance. SOI-based devices differ from conventional silicon-built devices in that the silicon junction is above an electrical insulator, typically silicon dioxide or sapphire. The choice of insulator depends largely on intended application, with sapphire being used for high-performance radio frequency (RF) and radiation-sensitive applications, and silicon dioxide for diminished short-channel effects in other microelectronics devices. The insulating layer and topmost silicon layer also vary widely with application.
The 90 nm process refers to the technology used in semiconductor manufacturing to create integrated circuits with a minimum feature size of 90 nanometers. It was an advancement over the previous 130 nm process. Eventually, it was succeeded by smaller process nodes, such as the 65 nm, 45 nm, and 32 nm processes.
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. (CSM), was a Singaporean semiconductor company.
The transistor count is the number of transistors in an electronic device. It is the most common measure of integrated circuit complexity. The rate at which MOS transistor counts have increased generally follows Moore's law, which observes that transistor count doubles approximately every two years. However, being directly proportional to the area of a die, transistor count does not represent how advanced the corresponding manufacturing technology is. A better indication of this is transistor density which is the ratio of a semiconductor's transistor count to its die area.
The X-FAB Silicon Foundries is a group of semiconductor foundries. The group specializes in the fabrication of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for fabless semiconductor companies, as well as MEMS and solutions for high voltage applications. The holding company named "X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE" is based in Tessenderlo, Belgium while its headquarters is located in Erfurt, Germany.
The "22 nm" node is the process step following 32 nm in CMOS MOSFET semiconductor device fabrication. The typical half-pitch for a memory cell using the process is around 22 nm. It was first demonstrated by semiconductor companies for use in RAM memory in 2008. In 2010, Toshiba began shipping 24 nm flash memory chips, and Samsung Electronics began mass-producing 20 nm flash memory chips. The first consumer-level CPU deliveries using a 22 nm process started in April 2012 with the Intel Ivy Bridge processors.
The 180 nm process is a MOSFET (CMOS) semiconductor process technology that was commercialized around the 1998–2000 timeframe by leading semiconductor companies, starting with TSMC and Fujitsu, then followed by Sony, Toshiba, Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments and IBM.
The "14 nanometer process" refers to a marketing term for the MOSFET technology node that is the successor to the "22nm" node. The "14nm" was so named by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Until about 2011, the node following "22nm" was expected to be "16nm". All "14nm" nodes use FinFET technology, a type of multi-gate MOSFET technology that is a non-planar evolution of planar silicon CMOS technology.
A multigate device, multi-gate MOSFET or multi-gate field-effect transistor (MuGFET) refers to a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) that has more than one gate on a single transistor. The multiple gates may be controlled by a single gate electrode, wherein the multiple gate surfaces act electrically as a single gate, or by independent gate electrodes. A multigate device employing independent gate electrodes is sometimes called a multiple-independent-gate field-effect transistor (MIGFET). The most widely used multi-gate devices are the FinFET and the GAAFET, which are non-planar transistors, or 3D transistors.
The term die shrink refers to the scaling of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) devices. The act of shrinking a die creates a somewhat identical circuit using a more advanced fabrication process, usually involving an advance of lithographic nodes. This reduces overall costs for a chip company, as the absence of major architectural changes to the processor lowers research and development costs while at the same time allowing more processor dies to be manufactured on the same piece of silicon wafer, resulting in less cost per product sold.
In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems defines the "5 nm" process as the MOSFET technology node following the "7 nm" node. In 2020, Samsung and TSMC entered volume production of "5 nm" chips, manufactured for companies including Apple, Huawei, Mediatek, Qualcomm and Marvell.
In semiconductor manufacturing, the "7 nm" process is a term for the MOSFET technology node following the "10 nm" node, defined by the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS), which was preceded by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). It is based on FinFET technology, a type of multi-gate MOSFET technology.
In semiconductor manufacturing, the 2 nm process is the next MOSFET die shrink after the 3 nm process node.
The semiconductor industry, including Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing, design, and packaging, forms a major part of Taiwan's IT industry. Due to its strong capabilities in OEM wafer manufacturing and a complete industry supply chain, Taiwan has been able to distinguish itself as a leading microchip manufacturer and dominate the global marketplace. Taiwan’s semiconductor sector accounted for US$115 billion, around 20 percent of the global semiconductor industry. In sectors such as foundry operations, Taiwanese companies account for 50 percent of the world market, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) the biggest player in the foundry market.
References
↑ "About Us". GlobalFoundries. 28 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
↑ D'Ambrosio, Dan (2015-07-01). "GlobalFoundries takes over in Essex Junction". Burlington Free Press. Archived from the original on 2023-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-15. the sprawling manufacturing campus on Robinson Parkway in Essex Junction
1 2 STMicroelectronics Secures Additional Sourcing for its Leading-Edge 28nm and 20nm FD-SOI Technology with GLOBALFOUNDRIES "Archived 2023-02-26 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
1 2 Samsung and STMicroelectronics Sign Strategic Agreement to Expand 28nm FD-SOI Technology "Archived 2020-11-01 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
1 2 3 GlobalFoundries AMOLED Display Controllers "Archived 2020-10-25 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
↑ GlobalFoundries Silicon Photonics: A Marriage of Optical and Digital on GF’s RF Process "Archived 2020-10-29 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
↑ GlobalFoundries Delivers Custom 14nm FinFET Technology for IBM Systems "Archived 2020-01-14 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved January 14, 2020.
↑ GlobalFoundries 12LP 12nm FinFET Technology "Archived 2019-11-29 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved December 27, 2019.
↑ GlobalFoundries Introduces 12LP+ FinFET Solution for Cloud and Edge AI Applications "Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
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US$7.392 billion (2023)
US$18.0 billion (2023)
