GlobalFoundries to build R&D facility in New York
The US$2 bn dollar center will include 90,000 square feet of flexible cleanroom space
GlobalFoundries plans to build a multi-billion dollar R&D facility at its Fab 8 campus in Saratoga County, New York. The new Technology Development Center (TDC) is expected to play a key role in the company's strategy to develop innovative semiconductor solutions allowing customers to compete at the leading edge of technology.
The TDC will feature more than a half million square feet of flexible space to support a range of technology development and manufacturing activities, including cleanroom and laboratory space. Representing an investment of nearly US$2bn, the facility will increase the total capital investment for the Fab 8 campus to more than $8bn.
Construction of the TDC is planned to begin in early 2013 with completion targeted for late 2014. The TDC will house a variety of semiconductor development and manufacturing spaces to support the transition to new technology nodes, as well as the development of innovative capabilities to deliver value to customers beyond the traditional approach of shrinking transistors. The overarching goal of the TDC is to provide a collaborative space for GlobalFoundries to develop end-to-end solutions covering the full spectrum of silicon technology, from new interconnect and packaging technologies that enable three-dimensional (3D) stacking of chips to leading-edge photomasks for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and everything in between.
We have seen increasingly strong interest from customers in migrating to advanced nodes on an accelerated schedule
"As the industry shifts from the PC era to a market focused on mobile devices, we have seen increasingly strong interest from customers in migrating to advanced nodes on an accelerated schedule," said GlobalFoundries CEO Ajit Manocha. "To help facilitate this migration, we are making significant investments in strengthening our technology leadership, including growing our workforce and adding new capabilities to make Fab 8 the hub of our global technology operations. New York State's continued support of the semiconductor industry has created a strong collaborative ecosystem and helped pave the way for this additional investment. The new TDC will help us bridge between the lab and the fab by taking research conducted with partners and further developing the technologies to make them ready for volume manufacturing."
Located at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the heart of upstate New York's "Tech Valley," Fab 8 is being developed as the most advanced semiconductor foundry campus in the world. Construction on the Fab 8 project began in July 2009 and the company has successfully brought up the new fab on schedule.