Date: 03/06/2010

Globalfoundries goes for aggressive expansion of its semiconductor fabs

The semiconductor industry is heading towards a growth of more than 30% in 2010 resulting in demand for high performance SoC chips which can only be made using few of the fabs such as TSMC, Globalfoundries UMC, SMIC, IBM and Samsung. Even among these the fab offering the 45nm (32nm and 22nm in the pipe) high K metal gate process at not so expensive cost (comparatively) is reaping more orders. It's a game of billion of dollars of investment to have that technology edge. While TSMC is ahead in the race, Globalfoudries is closing in to the top spot by pumping in billion of dollars to expand two of its advanced fabs at Dresden, Germany and New York, U.S..


Globalfoundries's Fab 1 in Dresden to add additional 45/40/28nm capacity to increase overall output to 80,000 wafers per month and Fab 8 in New York to undergo clean room shell expansion which currently under construction to increase capacity at 28/22/20nm to deliver a output up to 60,000 wafers per month after completion. Both the fabs to create hundreds of new jobs. Dresden facility is the largest wafer fab in Europe and is to add 110,000 square feet of clean room space to support this expansion plans. The total available cleanroom space of New York Fab after expansion is going to be approximately 300,000 square feet. Both the fab expansions are pending approval for local authorities.

"Our 300mm fabs have been consistently ranked among the most advanced and efficient in the industry," said Chia Song Hwee, chief operating officer, Globalfoundries. "Now we are taking our heritage of lean foundry manufacturing and world-class fab performance and making it available on a broader scale to meet the demands of the world's leading chip design companies. With this aggressive capacity build-out plan, we are well positioned to provide new and existing customers with the fastest option to get advanced products to market in the volumes they need to ensure success."

The major shareholder of Globalfoundries, the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) is also planning to create a large technology cluster in Abu Dhabi.

"The formation of the new Globalfoundries was predicated on creating a world-class technology and manufacturing company that had the scale and resources to compete for industry leadership in this capital intensive market," said Ibrahim Ajami, chief executive officer, ATIC. "For ATIC, this also represented the first step in Abu Dhabi's vision to become a leader in the semiconductor industry. Today we announce the next phase as we take our first steps in establishing a world-class advanced technology cluster over the coming years. We look forward to working with the Globalfoundries team to leverage the collective successes of Singapore, Dresden and New York as we create the industry's next innovation cluster in Abu Dhabi."