GLOBALFOUNDRIES finalizes integration of Chartered Semi, emerges as world’s first truly global foundry

SUNNYVALE, USA: GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced it has officially integrated operations with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and started functioning as one company under the GLOBALFOUNDRIES brand.

The announcement marks the emergence of the new GLOBALFOUNDRIES—the world’s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global manufacturing and technology footprint across Asia, Europe and the United States.

“As the world’s leading chip design companies face increasing pressure to push the boundaries of innovation, they need a full-service foundry partner with the ability to invest and sustain an aggressive leading-edge technology roadmap while offering a full breadth of services,” said Doug Grose, CEO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES.

“Thanks to the vision of our investors and months of dedicated work by teams across the globe, we have now created a new global company that leads the foundry market in advanced technology with unparalleled proximity to our customers and access to the world’s best talent.”

The combined company employs approximately 10,000 people around the world, anchored by headquarters in Silicon Valley and advanced manufacturing operations in Singapore; Dresden, Germany; and a new leading-edge fab under construction in Saratoga County, New York. These sites are supported by a global network of R&D, design enablement, and customer support in Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The new GLOBALFOUNDRIES immediately takes its position as one of the top semiconductor foundries in the world, with 2009 revenues to date for GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Chartered in excess of $2 billion. GLOBALFOUNDRIES launches with more than 150 customers across the semiconductor ecosystem, with plans to deepen existing relationships and to aggressively pursue new customers. Current customers include many of the world’s top fabless and fab-lite companies, such as AMD, Qualcomm, STMicro and IBM.

“The entire premise of the foundry business is changing,” said Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research. “Foundry customers have made it clear that they are looking for deep collaboration with their foundry partners as opposed to a contract manufacturing service. With its history as part of a top Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) operating at the leading edge of technology, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is well positioned to drive fundamental transformation in the foundry business model.”

GLOBALFOUNDRIES currently has five 200 mm fabs and one 300 mm fab in Singapore, as well as one leading-edge 300 mm fab complex in Dresden, Germany. To meet the demands of a growing customer base, the company has an aggressive capacity build-out plan, including expansion of Fab 1 in Dresden and Fab 7 in Singapore, as well as construction of a new leading-edge 300mm facility in Saratoga County, New York. The New York facility, which will be renamed as Fab 8, is on track to begin ramping initial production in 2012.

With these plans in place, global leading-edge capacity is expected to expand to 1.6 million 300mm wafers annually by 2014. This will be supplemented by 2.2 million 200mm wafers annually, offering customers the full spectrum of foundry technology from mainstream to the leading edge, for a total of 5.8 million 200mm equivalents.

“Until now, the world’s largest fabless, fablite and integrated manufacturers have had no real alternative for an end-to-end manufacturing partner,” said Chia Song Hwee, COO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES.

“This new company has an incredible opportunity in front of us to not just offer an alternative, but become the preferred supplier for many of the world’s top chip design companies. With advanced technology leadership, an aggressive capacity roadmap and a robust set of mainstream technologies and foundry services we are well equipped to compete and win against any other foundry in the industry.”

The new GLOBALFOUNDRIES brings a broad array of leading edge technology capabilities and services to market. The company is the foundry industry leader in time-to-volume on 40/45nm technology and expects to repeat this accomplishment with 32nm and “Gate First” High-K Metal Gate technology. The company embraces a collaborative R&D approach that also extends to packaging, IP solutions, and design enablement, built on what the company calls its “Virtual IDM” approach.