Globalfoundries has announced plans to add nearly 110,000-square feet of clean room space at its 12-inch Fab 1 in Dresden, with the first output from the new facility expected in 2011. Meanwhile, Fab 8 in New York, a new 12-inch plant that is still under construction, will not come online until 2013.
Globalfoundries' Fab 1 focuses on production of 40/45nm technology with scalability to 28nm and below, and is currently capable of producing 50,000 wafer starts a month. Fab 8 was originally set to begin ramping initial production in 2012, focusing on 28nm and below production.
Globalfoundries has made the right move in speeding up its 40/45nm expansion plans, in a bid to snatch orders for high-end GPUs and baseband chips. The foundry has an urgent need to improve its competitiveness against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Digitimes Research analyst Nobunaga Chai commented. Competition for 40/45nm process production among TSMC, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and Globalfoundries is expected to heat up in 2011, Chai added.
According to Globalfoundries, the construction of an additional wafer manufacturing facility at Fab 1 will increase overall output to 80,000 wafers a month once fully ramped. First output from this new expansion is expected in 2011, with construction work planned to start immediately.
Globalfoundries also revealed plans to expand Fab 8 to support long-term growth at the 22/20nm generation. The expansion will increase the size of the cleanroom shell by approximately 90,000 square feet, bringing the total available cleanroom space to 300,000 square feet. The larger cleanroom will enable a total output of approximately 60,000 wafers per month once fully ramped, Globalfoundries said.
Globalfoundries said it will spend more than US$3 billion to boost production at the two 12-inch fabs.
In addition, Globalfoundries said it is continuing with the company's previously-announced expansion at Fab 7 in Singapore to reach an output level of 50,000 wafers a month, an increase of nearly 50% from current levels. Fab 7 will continue to focus on manufacturing technologies ranging from the 65nm to 40nm nodes.
Rivals TSMC and UMC recently made their announcements regarding 12-inch fab expansions.
TSMC said it will allocate US$1.05 billion to expand advanced process capacity at Fabs 12 and Fab 14, and US$210 million for construction of its third 12-inch fab. The new plant will initially be equipped for 40nm processes with groundbreaking expected in mid-2010.
UMC last month inaugurated new factory buildings (Phase 3 and Phase 4) at its 12-inch plant, Fab 12A, with the new facilities scheduled to come online in the fourth quarter of 2010. It has budgeted US$4 billion for the construction.