U.S. Awards $1.5 Billion to Chipmaker GlobalFoundries

The U.S. government is giving the first significant grant from a $39 billion fund approved by Congress in 2022 to support domestic chip manufacture to GlobalFoundries for semiconductor production subsidies.

Let’s read the news and find out more.

U.S. Awards $1.5 Billion to Chipmaker GlobalFoundries

The company GlobalFoundries Inc. manufactures semiconductors. The company provides several technologies and services for mainstream wafer manufacturing.

Microprocessors, mobile application processors, baseband processors, network processors, radio frequency modems, microcontrollers, and power management units are just a few of the semiconductor devices that the company produces.

In addition to blind spot detection, vehicle collision alerts, Wi-Fi and cellular connections, and satellite and space communications, the GlobalFoundries chips are also employed in the defense industry.

According to a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department, GlobalFoundries, the third-largest contract chipmaker in the world, will expand its operations in Burlington, Vermont, and develop a new semiconductor production facility in Malta, New York.

In January, the department declared that Microchip Technology would receive a scheduled award of $162 million, while a facility owned by BAE Systems in New Hampshire would receive $35 million in December.

The $1.5 billion GlobalFoundries grant will be combined with $1.6 billion in available loans. According to the department, the funds are anticipated to generate an overall potential investment of $12.5 billion between the two states.

A $4 billion semiconductor fabrication unit was opened by GlobalFoundries in Singapore in September as part of a significant global manufacturing expansion.

The company’s activities in Singapore cater to 200 clients globally and include two other fabs that generate 720,000 300mm wafers and 692,000 200mm wafers annually, respectively. The chips are employed in 5G technologies and cars.

On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that “the chips that GlobalFoundries will make in these new facilities are essential to our national security.”

This month, Raimondo told Reuters that the organization is discussing with several applicants and anticipates releasing several announcements by the end of March.” We’re in the process of really complicated, challenging negotiations with these companies,” Raimondo disclosed to Reuters.

Raimondo added, “These are highly complex, first-of-their-kind facilities. The kind of facilities that TSMC, Samsung, Intel, are proposing to do in the United States — these are new-generation investments — size, scale complexity that’s never been done before in this country.”

For auto suppliers and manufacturers, like General Motors, the expansion of the Malta facility will guarantee a steady supply of chips, Raimondo remarked. According to Raimondo, the new plant in Malta will manufacture high-value chips that aren’t currently produced in the U.S.

According to a statement from GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield, “As an industry, we now need to turn our attention to increasing the demand for U.S.-made chips, and to growing our talented U.S. semiconductor workforce,”

On February 9, GlobalFoundries and G.M. announced a long-term agreement that will enable the automaker to obtain processors manufactured in the United States, preventing shortages of chips that may shut down factories, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Reuss, president of G.M., stated, “GlobalFoundries’ investment in New York both ensures a robust supply of semiconductors in the U.S. to help G.M. meet demand and supports U.S. leadership in automotive innovation.”