GlobalFoundries is investing big in the United States. The semiconductor manufacturer’s shares gained Wednesday when it announced that it would invest more than $16 billion to increase its production in the U.S.
CEO Tim Breen said that the company is proud to “partner with pioneering technology leaders to manufacture their chips in the United States—advancing innovation while strengthening economic and supply chain resiliency.” Breen added the skyrocketing growth of AI is driving “strong, durable demand” for GlobalFoundries technologies.
The company said the move comes in response to President Trump’s effort to build more chips domestically, and the booming demand for more artificial intelligence (AI) products. GlobalFoundries supplies a wide range of tech companies, including Apple and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
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GlobalFoundries (GF), headquartered in Malta, New York, is a leading semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for a wide range of industries, including automotive, communications infrastructure, data centers, IoT, aerospace, and defense. Founded in 2009 as a spin-off from AMD, GF serves over 250 customers worldwide, including major technology companies like Qualcomm, AMD, NXP Semiconductors, and General Motors.
GlobalFoundries is also committed to sustainability, targeting a 42% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 2021 levels, in line with Science Based Target Initiative standards. This commitment highlights GF’s effort to grow responsibly while meeting increasing global demand for semiconductors.
The firm said that more than $13 billion of the spending would be to expand and modernize its current facilities in New York and Vermont, and fund its recently launched New York Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center.
It added that an additional $3 billion will be dedicated to advanced research and development initiatives focused on “packaging innovation, silicon photonics and next-generation GaN technologies.” GaN is an abbreviation for gallium nitride, which is used especially for power devices.
As of June, GlobalFoundries remains a key player in the semiconductor industry, advancing technology and supporting critical sectors worldwide. This expansion will create many new jobs and help strengthen the country’s ability to produce important computer chips domestically. Overall, it supports economic growth, improves technology innovation, and reduces dependence on foreign suppliers, making the U.S. more competitive in the global technology market.
What are semiconductors?
Semiconductors are the critical hardware components that power artificial intelligence systems. AI requires enormous amounts of data processing and complex computations, which rely on semiconductor chips—especially specialized processors like GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), TPUs (Tensor Processing Units), and advanced AI accelerators.
These chips are built from semiconductor materials and are designed to handle the massive parallel processing needed for machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks. Semiconductors enable AI systems to perform tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and real-time decision-making efficiently and quickly.
Without advanced semiconductors, AI models would struggle to process data at the speeds required for applications such as autonomous vehicles, voice assistants, and predictive analytics. Thus, semiconductors form the backbone of AI hardware infrastructure, driving innovation and expanding the capabilities of AI technologies worldwide.