GlobalFoundries tops out Dresden expansion
GlobalFoundries has reached a construction milestone in its EUR 1.1 billion expansion in Dresden. The company also plans to develop and manufacture its next generation of FD-SOI technology at the site.
The topping-out ceremony for the SPRINT expansion project was held on 9 October, according to a press release from GlobalFoundries. The expansion is expected to raise the site’s annual capacity to more than one million 300mm wafers by the end of 2028. Dresden can currently produce up to 950,000 wafers a year, depending on product mix, which means the expansion adds capacity of at least around 5 percent. GlobalFoundries says Dresden will then be Europe’s largest foundry site.
The added capacity is aimed at the company’s specialised technologies for automotive, aerospace, industrial IoT and defence. The expansion will also allow GlobalFoundries to offer processes and data flows that stay entirely within Europe, for customers with strict security requirements such as critical infrastructure and aerospace.
“Europe’s industrial base depends on chips that have to be available, trusted and built close to the customers who rely on them,” said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries.” SPRINT expands that capacity in Dresden while giving customers a path to the next generation of energy-efficient computing for Physical AI. This reinforces GF’s role as a trusted partner in the industries that matter most to Europe.”
The construction phase has been completed on schedule and on budget, according to the company. General contractor Exyte is expanding the cleanroom and manufacturing infrastructure while the existing fab remains in full operation. The project is supported by the EU, the German federal government and the Free State of Saxony under the European Chips Act.
At the ceremony, GlobalFoundries also announced FDX Fusion, its next generation of fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology. The platform targets “7nm-like” digital performance combined with analogue, mixed-signal, embedded memory and high-performance RF capabilities, with the aim of handling processing, sensing, real-time control and secure connectivity in a single technology. GlobalFoundries intends to develop it through the EU’s upcoming IPCEI Advanced Semiconductor Technologies (AST) programme, subject to approval by the German federal government.
“With SPRINT, we are not simply adding cleanroom space. We are investing in Germany’s future as an industrial and innovation location, in resilient European supply chains as well as secure and reliable access to differentiated semiconductor technologies,” said Dr Manfred Horstmann, General Manager and Senior Vice President at GlobalFoundries.
GlobalFoundries employs around 3,000 people in Dresden and has invested more than EUR 10 billion in the site since 2009.
