TECH

Chinese chipmaker interested in former US factory GlobalFoundries

As early as 2016, the American chipmaker GlobalFoundries hoped to build a company in China, but the project in Chongqing was not launched, and in May 2017, construction began in Chengdu. In February 2019, the development was closed, in May 2020 all employees were fired and all equipment was removed. Now, Chinese holding company Tsinghua Unigroup is eyeing the empty company.

This GlobalFoundries company is designed to process 300mm silicon wafers, in the first stage it was supposed to produce chips using 180nm and 130nm technologies from the end of 2018, and by the end of 2019 to master the production of products using 22FDX and technologies FD-SOI. In the summer of 2018, GlobalFoundries had financial problems, abandoned the development of 7nm process technology and began to reduce its activity in China. The last employees at the Chengdu plant were laid off in May 2020. Against the background of current political tensions, GlobalFoundries did not dare to revive the Chinese project, for which it initially expected to spend $ 10 billion.

DigiTimes cites Chinese media reports that Chinese holding company Tsinghua Unigroup, which also went bankrupt last year, is showing interest in the abandoned factory. This industrial giant has experience in the development and production of chips, and an empty company may be interested in the presence of basic infrastructure, since there is no equipment inside anyway. It is reported that the Chengdu municipal government, in exchange for the purchase of the company by Tsinghua Unigroup Holding, promises to invest some amount in its capital. However, former employees of the company GlobalFoundries in Chengdu claim that in some places it is not finished and the workshops are completely empty. At the same time, Intel was also interested in this company, but later refused to buy it.

by: mundophone