GlobalFoundries commits $3B more to US fabs in Trump tariff flex

Silicon photonics and gallium nitride a major focus

GlobalFoundries plans to funnel another $3 billion into US semiconductor production, bringing its total investment to $16 billion, the New York-based foundry operator said on Wednesday.

The additional funding will support the production of several emerging technologies, including silicon photonics, and comes as many tech firms look to American suppliers to minimize their exposure to US tariffs.

"Today's announcement is a direct result of President Trump's leadership and his vision to bring back high-paying manufacturing jobs and reestablish secure, domestic supply chains for critical technologies," GlobalFoundries Executive Chairman Thomas Caulfield said in a canned statement.

GlobalFoundries hasn't competed with foundry giants like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on leading-edge process tech since abandoning its 7nm and smaller nodes back in 2018. But it remains a key supplier of special-purpose but often high-volume semis used in communications, imaging, automotive, industrial, and embedded devices.

For example, GlobalFoundries has made unspecified parts for Apple's iDevices going back to 2010, as well as for SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications network.

Perhaps more importantly, many of these components are still manufactured in the US, something that's become increasingly valuable with the specter of an up to 100 percent tariff on foreign made chips looming over the industry.

With that said, much of GlobalFoundries' manufacturing push was announced long before Trump took office. Last year, the chipmaker earmarked roughly $13 billion to expand its manufacturing plants in New York and Vermont, for which it was awarded $1.5 billion in US CHIPS Act funding.

The chipmaker has now carved off another $3B for research and development into silicon photonics, advanced packaging, and gallium nitride (GaN), a technology commonly used in power semiconductors.

Silicon photonics, in particular, has become a major area of interest in recent years. Several chip designers, including Intel, Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD, have embraced the technology in hopes of overcoming bandwidth bottlenecks and growing power consumption associated with ever-larger AI networks.

Meanwhile, in the quantum computing realm, several vendors have embraced GlobalFoundries photonic tech. PsiQuantum has been working on quantum systems based on GF's silicon photonics tech since 2021. Quantum Motion, on the other hand, is looking to harness another GlobalFoundries technology called 22FDX.

Short for 22nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator, the transistor tech promises 50 percent higher performance while consuming 70 percent less power than conventional CMOS technologies. These qualities have made it a go-to option for low analog signal and radio frequency processing, but it is by no means limited to these applications, with Quantum Motion looking to utilize the tech in its quantum processing units.

GlobalFoundries is by no means the first to ratchet up its US manufacturing investments after President Donald Trump proposed massive tariffs on semiconductor imports back in January.

As you may recall, back in March TSMC said it would plow another $100 billion to build three new chip fabs, two advanced packaging facilities, and a R&D facility in the US. The announcement was followed by several high-profile commitments from chip designers including Apple, Nvidia, and AMD to begin producing chips at TSMC's US factories. ®