GlobalFoundries rallies after US$2bn TSMC deal

PACKAGING PUSH: The chipmaker said that it would begin ramping up silicon interposer production in New York in the first half of 2028 to support AI systems

• Staff writer, with Bloomberg

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GlobalFoundries Inc shares gained as much as 7 percent after the chip manufacturer announced a five-year, US$2 billion deal to provide US production capacity to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電).

Under the agreement, announced on Thursday, GlobalFoundries is to help supply components known as silicon interposers. The US company is to rely on manufacturing at its facility in Malta, New York, and said it has the option to expand capacity “as customer demand grows.”

An interposer is a small layer of silicon that sits between a chip and its packaging. It is home to the wires that carry electronic signals and power needed to make that chip functional. The components are increasingly important as semiconductors become larger and companies combine multiple chips into the same package.

A worker holds a wafer at the GlobalFoundries Inc semiconductor fabrication plant in Dresden, Germany, on Oct. 28 last year.

Photo: Bloomberg

GlobalFoundries expects to expand capacity at its Malta facility and establish the first US-based source of silicon interposers supporting advanced packaging technologies, including embedded deep trench capacitor components, it said.

The company expects to begin ramping up volume production of the TSMC components in the first half of 2028.

The multi-year US$2 billion agreement will expand capacity for advanced packaging ecosystem and support growing demand for AI and high-performance computing technologies, GlobalFoundries said.

The deal provides TSMC with an additional US-based source of production at a time when the Taiwanese company is working to expand its US footprint. TSMC is the dominant chip foundry — a business that produces semiconductors for outside customers — and serves clients such as Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Shares of GlobalFoundries rose as high as US$51.45, marking their biggest intraday gain in three weeks. The stock had been up 38 percent this year through Wednesday’s close.

GlobalFoundries’ foundry business is generally focused on less sophisticated chips, what it calls “essential semiconductors.” Greater interest in technology like silicon interposers for packaging is giving the company a role to play in more advanced AI components.

“Advanced packaging is becoming increasingly critical to delivering the performance, power efficiency and scale required for next-generation AI systems,” GlobalFoundries senior vice president Ed Kaste said in the statement.