Courtesy GlobalFoundries
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded GlobalFoundries a new 10-year contract for a supply of securely manufactured, U.S.-made semiconductors for use across a wide range of critical aerospace and defense applications.
With an initial award of $17.3 million tin September and an overall 10-year spending ceiling of $3.1 billion, the new contract provides the Department of Defense and its contractors with access to GlobalFoundries’ semiconductor technologies manufactured at its U.S. facilities.
GlobalFoundries also announced it is seeking federal funding to expand its ability to produce semiconductors and modernize its U.S. facilities, including its property in Malta.
The GlobalFoundries facilities in Malta are Department of Defense-accredited to the highest security level, Trusted Supplier Category 1A, which implements proven stringent security measures to protect sensitive information and manufacture chips with the highest levels of integrity to ensure they are uncompromised.
In addition to secure chip manufacturing for Department of Defense systems used on land, air, sea, and in space, the new contract provides the Department of Defense and its contractors with access to GlobalFoundries’ robust design ecosystem, IP libraries, early-access to new technologies in development, quick and efficient prototyping, and full-scale volume manufacturing.
The contract was awarded through the Department of Defense’s Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO).
“GlobalFoundries is proud to begin this new chapter of our decades-long partnership with the U.S. government, and to continue serving as the leading supplier of securely manufactured essential chips for the U.S. aerospace and defense industry,” said Mike Cadigan, chief corporate and government affairs officer at GlobalFoundries. “This partnership provides Department of Defense programs with ‘front-door access’ to advanced technologies in a way that is scalable and highly efficient. For this work, GlobalFoundries is accredited to provide the right level of security required for each program, from GlobalFoundries’ industry leading GlobalFoundries Shield protections, to strictly export controlled handling (e.g. ITAR), to the highest level of accredited microelectronics manufacturing security on the planet, Trusted Category 1A.”
The new contract is the third sequential 10-year contract of its kind between the Department of Defense and the Trusted Foundry business team at GlobalFoundries and is the latest milestone in the longstanding partnership between the department and the company.
Regarding facility expansion, Steven Grasso, the company’s senior director of global government affairs, said GlobalFoundries has submitted applications to the CHIPS Program Office to participate in the federal grants and investment tax credits enabled by the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act.
“This federal support is critical for GlobalFoundries to continue growing its U.S. manufacturing footprint, strengthening U.S. economic security, supply chain resiliency, and national defense,” he said.
The $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 aims to stimulate investment in the country’s semiconductor industry in order to boost the nation’s economy and compete with China.
Officials said the company is redefining innovation and semiconductor manufacturing by developing and delivering feature-rich process technology solutions that provide leadership performance in pervasive high growth markets.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that GlobalFoundries’ application, puts the company one step closer to expanding its manufacturing abilities in New York.
“I applaud GlobalFoundries for submitting their CHIPS application, because I know its powerhouse workforce and the Capital Region is the place to build the future of our semiconductor industry, which Secretary [of Commerce Gina] Raimondo saw firsthand when she visited the facility in 2021 at my invitation,” he said. “We have only scratched the surface of what Upstate New York will mean for domestic and global semiconductor manufacturing for generations to come.”
The company announced in May that it bought 800 acres in Luther Forest Technology Park, where its Saratoga County campus is located. The company plans to build a second factory in the park that would be over 600,000 square feet.