GlobalFoundries Invests $550M in New York Silicon Photonics Center
Recently, GlobalFoundries, a leading American semiconductor foundry, announced plans to establish an advanced packaging and chip testing center based on silicon photonics technology at its manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. The center, supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the State of New York, is an unprecedented initiative aimed at enabling the secure manufacturing, processing, packaging, and testing of semiconductors entirely within the U.S. This move is driven by the growing demand for essential chips required for key markets, including artificial intelligence, automotive, aerospace, defense, and telecommunications.
The rise of AI is fueling the adoption of silicon photonics, along with 3D and heterogeneous integration (HI) chips, to meet the power, bandwidth, and density requirements of data centers and edge devices. Silicon photonics chips are also expected to address power and performance needs for automotive, communications, radar, and other critical infrastructure applications. In response to this growing demand, GlobalFoundries' advanced packaging and photonics center in New York is expected to provide cutting-edge solutions, such as advanced packaging, assembly, and testing for differentiated silicon photonics platforms, integrating optical and electrical components on a single chip to deliver power efficiency and performance advantages.
With Trusted Foundry certification, the center will offer complete turnkey advanced packaging, bumping, assembly, and testing services for aerospace and defense customers, ensuring that chips used in sensitive national security systems remain within the U.S. throughout the production process. The center will also support advanced packaging, wafer-to-wafer bonding, assembly, and testing for 3D and HI chips using GlobalFoundries' leading 12LP+, 22FDX®, and other platforms.
Dr. Thomas Caulfield, President and CEO of GlobalFoundries, stated, "We are proud to partner at both the state and federal levels to build this new center, which directly responds to our customers' need for greater geological diversity in their supply chains. It will also provide additional support for our differentiated silicon photonics, Trusted, and 3D/HI product advanced packaging solutions. The New York Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center will stand as a unique asset in our industry and play a critical role in the continued development of the world-class semiconductor manufacturing and innovation ecosystem at the State University of New York."
The center is designed to expand GlobalFoundries' advanced packaging capabilities—transforming chips into individual packages ready for end-use products—offering U.S.-based, end-to-end chip solutions for chips manufactured at GlobalFoundries' New York facility. Today, the most advanced packaging in the semiconductor industry takes place in Asia.
GlobalFoundries expects to invest a total of $575 million in the New York Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center, with an additional $186 million in R&D investment over the next decade. These efforts are anticipated to create around 100 new full-time jobs in New York over the next five years.
The State of New York will provide up to $20 million in new support for the center, supplementing the previously announced $550 million in support for GlobalFoundries under the New York State Green Chips Program. The U.S. Department of Commerce will provide up to $75 million in direct funding to support the center, complementing the previous subsidies announced under the CHIPS and Science Act, totaling approximately $1.5 billion.
Currently, GlobalFoundries employs about 2,500 people at its Malta, New York wafer fab, which has received over $16 billion in investments since it opened in 2011. The fab holds Trusted Foundry certification and collaborates with the U.S. government to produce secure chips.
