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Chip makers Globalfoundries<\/a> and Chartered have combined operations to form a semiconductor contract manufacturing powerhouse.<\/p>\nThe combination is a culmination of the companies’ ambition to create globaly foundry, or a contract manufacturing firm that makes chips which are designed by other companies. The combined company will compete against market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., not to mention companies with their own in-house factories such as Intel.<\/p>\n
A series of events paved the way for the combination. First, in 2008, the government of Abu Dhabi bought a majority stake in the chip manufacturing business of Advanced Micro Devices<\/a>. AMD became a chip design firm, while the manufacturing operation was renamed Globalfoundries. Then, last September, the Abu Dhabi entity, Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC), agreed to buy Singapore’s Chartered for $3.9 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Globalfoundries will now have 10,000 employees across 12 locations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company will have about $2.75 billion in revenues in 2009, and its 150 customers include many of the world’s biggest chip making and chip design firms.<\/p>\n The company will have leading edge manufacturing from the AMD side of the house, and it will be making advanced chips for AMD. The Chartered side of the house will serve customers with more mature factories, said Kevin Meyer, vice president of marketing and alliances, in an interview. Investors have pledged to put more than $10 billion into the combined companies, which need the capital to build chip factories in places such as New York, Singapore, and Dresden, Germany. The company has three big factories, which can make chips on wafers that are 300 mm in diameter, either in the works or under construction. And it has six more older factories.<\/p>\n In Saratoga County, N.Y., the company has broken ground on a factory that could require a $4.6 billion investment when it is fully built out. That factory is expected to create 1,400 jobs. Full told, the factories will be able to produce 425 million wafers a month by 2015, said Tom Sonderman, vice president of manufacturing systems. A wafer is sliced into many different chips, and so the factory capacity could be in the billions of chips per month.<\/p>\n GLOBALFOUNDRIES Finalizes Integration, Emerges as World\u2019s First Truly Global Foundry<\/p>\n GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Chartered combine under one brand to compete for market leadership as a full-service foundry company<\/p>\n Sunnyvale, Calif. \u2013 January 13, 2010 \u2013 GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced it has officially integrated operations with Chartered Semiconductor and started functioning as one company under the GLOBALFOUNDRIES brand. The announcement marks the emergence of the new GLOBALFOUNDRIES\u2014the world\u2019s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global manufacturing and technology footprint across Asia, Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the world\u2019s 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,\u201d said Doug Grose, chief executive officer of GLOBALFOUNDRIES. \u201cThanks 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\u2019s best talent.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s top fabless and fab-lite companies, such as AMD, Qualcomm, STMicro, IBM, and Toshiba.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire premise of the foundry business is changing,\u201d said Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research. \u201cFoundry 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil now, the world\u2019s largest fabless, fablite and integrated manufacturers have had no real alternative for an end-to-end manufacturing partner,\u201d said Chia Song Hwee, chief operating officer of GLOBALFOUNDRIES. \u201cThis 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\u2019s top chip design companies.<\/p>\n 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201cGate First\u201d 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 \u201cVirtual IDM\u201d approach.<\/p>\n ABOUT GLOBALFOUNDRIES<\/p>\n GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the world\u2019s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global manufacturing and technology footprint. Launched in March 2009 through a partnership between AMD [NYSE: AMD] and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), GLOBALFOUNDRIES provides a unique combination of advanced technology, manufacturing excellence and global operations. With the integration of Chartered Semiconductor in January 2010, GLOBALFOUNDRIES significantly expanded its capacity and ability to provide best-in-class foundry services from mainstream to the leading edge. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is headquartered in Silicon Valley with manufacturing operations in Singapore, 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.<\/p>\n For more information on GLOBALFOUNDRIES, visit www.globalfoundries.com<\/p>\n