GlobalFoundreis aborts 7nm Development

30 August, 2018

"Customers cannot afford the transition to 7nm and finer geometries. 14nm and above technologies will continue to be the important demand driver for the foundry business for many years to come”

Photo above: GlobalFoundries’ Fab-1 in Dresden, Germany

The second largest semiconductor’s foundry (The first is TSMC), GlobalFoundries, announced a departure from the race to achieve smaller transistor nodes. The company said it is putting its 7nm FinFET program on hold indefinitely and restructuring its research and development teams to support its enhanced portfolio initiatives. Mainly shifting the development resources to make its 14/12nm FinFET platform more relevant to the clients, and to add innovative IP and features including RF, embedded memory, low power and more. “This will require a workforce reduction, however a significant number of top technologists will be redeployed on 14/12nm FinFET derivatives and other differentiated offerings.”

The newly appointed CEO of GlobalFoundries, Tom Caulfield, mentioned that the demand for semiconductors has never been higher. But, “The vast majority of today’s fabless customers are looking to get more value out of each technology generation to leverage the substantial investments required to design into each technology node. This industry dynamic has resulted in fewer fabless clients designing into the outer limits of Moore’s Law.”

The ASIC Business will be Independent Company

saicIn addition, GF is establishing its ASIC business as a wholly-owned subsidiary, independent from the foundry business. This independent ASIC entity will provide clients with access to alternative foundry options at 7nm and beyond, while allowing the ASIC business to engage with a broader set of clients, especially the growing number of systems companies that need ASIC capabilities and more manufacturing scale than GF can provide alone.

“Lifting the burden of investing at the leading edge will allow GF to make more targeted investments in technologies that really matter to the majority of chip designers in fast-growing markets such as RF, IoT, 5G, industrial and automotive,” said Samuel Wang, research vice president at Gartner. “While the leading edge gets most of the headlines, fewer customers can afford the transition to 7nm and finer geometries. 14nm and above technologies will continue to be the important demand driver for the foundry business for many years to come.”

Posted in: News , Semiconductors

Posted in tags: globalfoundries , semiconductors