GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced plans to expand its global semiconductor manufacturing operations with a series of new projects across its 300mm operations designed to support expected increases in both near-term and long-term customer demand. These projects consist of two major new initiatives:
- The construction of an additional wafer manufacturing facility at Fab 1 in Dresden designed to add additional 45/40/28nm capacity and increase overall output to 80,000 wafers per month once fully ramped
- Expanding the clean room shell currently under construction at Fab 8 in New York to provide the option to increase capacity at 28/22/20nm and bring overall site output up to 60,000 wafers per month once fully equipped
By making additional investments in leading-edge capacity, GLOBALFOUNDRIES continues to take an aggressive long-term approach to driving sustained growth and technology leadership on advanced technologies. These new expansion projects are also expected to create hundreds of new jobs at the Fab 1 and Fab 8 campuses.
"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."
At the company's leading-edge Dresden manufacturing campus, Fab 1, the expansion focus will be on adding new capacity to support additional growth opportunities for 45/40/28nm technologies as well as initial 22nm development. This expansion will see a new facility constructed at Fab 1 that will add nearly 110,000 square feet of clean room space to enable the site to scale output up to 80,000 wafers per month over the next two years. The largest wafer fab in Europe, Fab 1's leading-edge wafer fabrication equipment will cover an area equivalent to approximately eight soccer fields. The first output from this new expansion is expected in 2011 with construction work planned to start immediately. The start of this expansion project at Fab 1 is, however, still subject to the approval of a state aid package by the German authorities and the European Commission.
To support long-term growth at the 22/20nm generation, GLOBALFOUNDRIES plans to expand Fab 8, the company's new leading-edge fab currently under construction at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County, New York. The expansion will increase the size of the cleanroom shell by approximately 90,000 square feet, bringing the total available cleanroom space to approximately 300,000 square feet, equivalent to roughly six soccer fields of state-of-the-art wafer fabrication equipment. Work on the shell expansion is expected to begin later this month pending final approval of an investment agreement with Empire State Development Corporation and the State of New York. The total facility, including cleanroom support infrastructure and office space, includes more than 1.3 million square feet of space and is expected to come online in 2012 with volume production targeted for early 2013. The larger cleanroom would allow for the future fit-up and equipment necessary to enable a total output of approximately 60,000 wafers per month once fully ramped.
In addition to the capacity expansion projects at Fab 1 and Fab 8, GLOBALFOUNDRIES majority shareholder, the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), announced initial plans for the creation of an advanced technology cluster in Abu Dhabi. The site, adjacent to Abu Dhabi International Airport and measuring three square kilometers in size, is ideally suited to house a future advanced technology cluster in the region with close proximity to regional transportation hubs and physical infrastructure. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is committed to partnering with ATIC to share best practices and expertise in cluster creation in the near-term and putting a significant technology and manufacturing presence in the region long term. The goal for the site is to be the Middle Eastern hub of a global technology and manufacturing network to support the long-term deployment of capital for ATIC portfolio companies, in capital-intensive advanced technologies.
"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."
In addition to new expansion initiatives in Dresden and New York, GLOBALFOUNDRIES also is continuing with its previously announced expansion at Fab 7 in Singapore to reach an output level of 50,000 wafers per month, an increase of nearly 50 percent from current levels. During the expansion, Fab 7 will continue to focus on manufacturing technologies ranging from the 65nm to 40nm technology nodes.
ABOUT GLOBALFOUNDRIES
GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the world's 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 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.
For more information on GLOBALFOUNDRIES, visit http://www.globalfoundries.com.
About ATIC
The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) was created in 2008. A technology investment company wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, ATIC is focused on making significant investments in the advanced technology sector, both locally and internationally. Its mandate is to generate returns that deliver long-term benefits to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
ATIC seeks to leverage the unique advantages it enjoys as an investor from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to identify and realize long-term investment opportunities in the highly competitive and capital-intensive advanced technology sector. These advantages include significant and reliable capital, a patient investment philosophy, and a subsequently long-term investment horizon. For more information about ATIC visit http://www.advancedtechnologyic.com/
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include, without limitation, statements regarding the company's current expectations, assumptions, assessments, anticipations, objectives, plans, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. Some factors which contribute to these risks and uncertainties include the economic conditions both in the United States and around the world; the difficulties in developing new customers; the demand and supply outlook in the overall semiconductor / foundry industry; the sourcing strategy of potential customer base; competitor actions; the success of company technology alliances; construction progress on additional manufacturing facilities as well as associated governmental processes; the availability of components and equipment; labor and employment issues at manufacturing facilities; the progression of advances in technology and processes; and unforeseen events. The company has no duty to update any forward-looking statements in this release based on new information or events.
