GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced plans to expand its global manufacturing footprint in response to customer demand for its technology portfolio.
The company is investing in its existing leading-edge fabs in the United States and Germany, expanding its footprint in China with a fab in Chengdu, and adding capacity for mainstream technologies in Singapore.
"We continue to invest in capacity and technology to meet the needs of our worldwide customer base," said GF CEO Sanjay Jha. "We are seeing strong demand for both our mainstream and advanced technologies, from our world-class RF-SOI platform for connected devices to our FD-SOI and FinFET roadmap at the leading edge. These new investments will allow us to expand our existing fabs while growing our presence in China through a partnership in Chengdu."
In the United States, GF plans to expand 14nm FinFET capacity by an additional 20 percent at its Fab 8 facility in New York, with the new production capabilities to come online in the beginning of 2018. This expansion builds on the approximately $13 billion invested in the United States over the last eight years. New York will continue to be the center of technology development for 7nm and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, with 7nm production planned for Q2 2018.
In Germany, GF plans to build up 22FDX 22nm FD-SOI capacity at is Fab 1 facility in Dresden to meet demand for the Internet of Things (IoT), smartphone processors, automotive electronics, and other battery-powered wirelessly connected applications, growing the overall fab capacity by 40 percent by 2020. Dresden will continue to be the center for FDX technology development. GF engineers in Dresden are already developing the company's next-generation 12FDXTM technology, with customer product tape-outs expected to begin in the middle of 2018.
In China, GF and the Chengdu municipality have formed a partnership to build a fab in Chengdu. The partners plan to establish a 300mm fab to support the growth of the Chinese semiconductor market and to meet global customer demand for 22FDX. The fab will begin production of mainstream process technologies in 2018 and then focus on manufacturing GF's commercially available 22FDX process technology, with volume production expected to start in 2019.
In Singapore, GF will increase 40nm capacity at its 300mm fab by 35 percent, while also enabling more 180nm production on its 200mm manufacturing lines. The company will also add new capabilities to produce its RF-SOI technology.