Globalfoundries plans to expand production
Chip demand driven by communications and consumer devices
Singapore : Globalfoundries Inc, which recently merged with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., anticipates a "strong" recovery in the next four to five quarters, Chief Executive Officer Doug Grose said.
"The foundry industry is growing faster than the overall semiconductor industry," Grose said at a press event in Singapore yesterday. Demand for chips is being driven by communications and consumer devices, the fastest growing segment in the technology sector, according to Chia Song Hwee, chief operating officer of Globalfoundries.
Globalfoundries, controlled by Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Co., plans to expand production of 300 millimetre wafers to 1.6 million a year by 2014, it said in a statement on Thursday. Also, the addition of capacity for 2.2 million 200 millimetre wafers annually will bring the total output to 5.8 million such wafers, the company said.
Background
The chip company was created after Advanced Micro Devices Inc. spun off its manufacturing arm in 2008. Abu Dhabi's ATIC completed the S$2.5 billion (Dh6.61 billion) Chartered Semiconductor purchase last month and combined it with Globalfoundries, creating a challenger to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp., the world's two biggest makers of customised chips.
"We want to provide a real competition to TSMC," Grose said. Globalfoundries plans to do that by rolling out more advanced wafer manufacturing technologies.
Globalfoundries said it will expand its Fab 1 facility in Dresden, Germany, and the Fab 7 plant in Singapore. It will also build a new 300 millimetre facility in Saratoga County, New York, called Fab 8.
The company isn't currently looking at acquisitions and is "not involved" in any discussions to acquire Hynix Semiconductor Inc. or United Microelectronics, Grose said.
Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore's state investment firm, ended its 22-year investment when it sold a controlling stake in Chartered Semiconductor. The chipmaker, which eliminated workers and cut overtime to reduce costs, lost $4.7 million in the third quarter.
