Globalfoundries announces aggressive expansion plans

Globalfoundries has announced plans for a $3 billion expansion of its factories in New York and Germany.

The company plans to construct an additional wafer manufacturing facility at Fab 1 in Dresden. This will extend its 45, 40 and 28nm capacity, and increase overall output to 80,000 wafers per month by next year.

At its Fab 8 in New York, Globalfoundries plans to expand the clean room shell it’s currently constructing to give it the option of increasing its 28, 22 and 20nm capacity and bringing the overall site output up to 60,000 wafers per month.

The total facility, including cleanroom support infrastructure and office space, covers more than 1.3 million square feet, and is expected to come online in 2012 with volume production targeted for early 2013.

Both projects are expected to create hundreds of new jobs.

“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,” said Globalfoundries COO Chia Song Hwee.

“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 company is also planning a new advanced technology cluster in Abu Dhabi, next to the international airport and measuring three square kilometers in size.

“Today we announce the next phase as we take our first steps in establishing a world-class advanced technology cluster over the coming years,” said Ibrahim Ajami, chief executive officer of Globalfoundries’ parent company, ATIC. 

“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.”