GlobalFoundries closed 2021 with a 36% revenue increase
The semiconductor foundry managed to capitalise on the unprecedented demand for semiconductor solutions as it reports revenues of USD 6.6 billion for 2021, a 36% YoY growth.
Looking at the company’s fourth quarter, GlobalFoundires reported revenue of USD 1.85 billion, up 74% compared to the same quarter in 2020. Fourth quarter net income amounted to USD 43 million, compared to a loss of USD 524 million during the same period the year before.
For the full year of 2021 the company recorded revenues of USD 6.6 billions, a YoY increase of 36% from USD 4.8 billion. Net income amounted to a loss of USD 254 million, a clear improvement from the loss of USD 1.3 billion that the company recorded in 2020.
“2021 was an outstanding year for GF, during which we drove an acceleration of our business plan by capitalizing on the demand for pervasive semiconductor solutions and the vital role we play in the semiconductor supply chain,” said CEO Tom Caulfield in the company’s fiscal report.
The CEO also mentioned that during 2021 GF managed to secure a number of long-term partnership agreements, more specifically 30 customers who committing more than USD 3.2 billion toward the continued expansion of the company’s global manufacturing footprint.
During the company’s earnings call Mr. Caulfield provided a brief update the company’s ongoing capacity expansions.
The CEO said that the company is well-positioned to execute on its plan to deliver a more than 50% output increase exiting 2023 compared to 2020. This will be made a reality by adding capacity in Malta, New York; Dresden, Germany; and in Singapore.
“We are continuing to execute on our plan to mix up our 200-millimeter facilities in Burlington and Singapore with differentiated single-source SOI, SiGe, and feature-rich CMOS technologies,” the CEO said.
“For 2022, our plan is to increase capacity by high single-digits, primarily driven by the expansion plans underway in Dresden. All of this expansion in capacity is the support of customer demand for differentiated technologies such as 22FDX; image sensor processors on 28- and 40-nanometer technologies; and BCDLite and embedded nonvolatile memory technologies,” Mr. Caulfield continued.
The company’s Phase 1 module expansion in Singapore remains on track with equipment slated to go into that facility in the second half of 2022 – which would create a base for the first production outs in the first half of 2023.
The CEO went on to say that all of the company’s expansion investments are backed with customer long-term capacity reservation agreements and significant prepayments.
Tom Caulfield shared a few thoughts on the overall industry supply-demand dynamics and the capacity being added to address the shortfall of supply.
“Based on announced fab expansions both those fabs being tooled or presently under construction supply will grow around 4% over the next five years. If we exclude China-based foundries that number drops from 4% to 2.5% over the next five years. So based on this analysis and our customers' continued interest in investing for long-term future capacity, we believe we are making the right long-term investments that will enable us to almost double our revenue while delivering the necessary return on invested capital for our business,” the CEO said.
