G'foundries Revamps China Deal

Chengdu set for 180nm in 2018, 22nm in 2019

Rick Merritt, Feb. 09, 2017 – 

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Globalfoundries and city government officials from Chengdu, China, will break ground Saturday on a new fab valued at roughly $10 billion. The foundry simultaneously announced expansions for fabs in Germany, the U.S. and Singapore, although it declined to put dollar figures on them.

Globalfoundries suggested it is putting on the back burner a separate joint venture in Chongqing announced in May. It has a memorandum of understanding in that deal but it is focusing on Chengdu which appears to be a significantly larger, more promising deal.

The news comes at a time when China federal and provincial officials are competing in a race to build up a domestic semiconductor industry. Ironically the new joint venture comes one day after Intel announced at the White House it will spend $7 billion to restart its Fab 42 in Arizona.

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