Why GlobalFoundries’ Chips Are So Important To The U.S.

In its short 14 year history, GlobalFoundries has risen to the world’s third largest chip foundry. Although it’s not manufacturing chips at the bleeding edge, or seeing tremendous gains from the generative AI boom like Nivida has, GlobalFoundries is quietly helping power nearly every connected device. Its chips are inside every high-end smartphone, cars, smart speakers and yes, the servers running generative AI. It’s also the only major chip foundry based in the U.S., giving it an edge as tensions with China cause concern over the world’s reliance on chips made in Taiwan by TSMC. Now it’s spending about $7 billion to expand production in parts of the world with lower risk: Singapore, Germany, France, and upstate New York. CNBC went to Malta, New York, for a firsthand look at the expansion and to ask how it plans to stay ahead while focusing on the older chips still essential for everyday devices.
Chapters:
2:19 - Exiting the leading edge
5:45 - Global growth
9:48 - Making chips in America
13:42 - Defense, autos and AI
Produced and Shot by: Katie Tarasov
Edited by: Amy Marino
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Animation: Jason Reginato
Additional Camera: Erin Black, Carlos Waters
Additional Footage: AMD, Getty Images, NXP, NextGenInfra.io, Nvidia, Patrick Moorhead, TSMC, WNYT
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Why GlobalFoundries’ Chips Are So Important To The U.S.

[@ronch550]

It's good to see the semiconductor manufacturing industry spread out. Really makes me feel gooooood.

[@TENNSUMITSUMA]

why?! what's it to you?!

[@ronch550]

@@TENNSUMITSUMA why do you wanna know? What's it to you?

[@derekoverhage9180]

Ya it’s nice to see better paying jobs trickle back into the United States. I got a job at the TSMC fab that opened this year in Arizona. Now I’m making twice as much as I was in the same field kinda (I’m working on the logistics side of things)doing 10%of the work I did at any other job. These foreign companies are making ours look bad.

[@user-ek1to4gq3h]

I still hope they can efficient, without subsidies it is next to impossible. I do hope they can call the technician at 2am if the line break down and get back on track. I had my reservation when it was announced it was5 nm and not 3 nm.@@derekoverhage9180

[@user-ek1to4gq3h]

On the macro scale it means bad, cause it means we haven't keep up with advancement and high quality jobs that are enough or service to keep the gap it existed at the time and now we are going in more run of the mill lower end stuffs rather be focused only on the cuttings edge. By now I would have imagine everything would already be automated and have humaid around but alas it is not yet like the flying cars. C'mon America, everyone is celebrating but from theorictical and philosophical point of view may not be the best things. As for TSMC Fab, 5nm have my reservation especially since 3nm is a long node, but national security vertical wise means we have less to worry and perhaps and though hopefully we actually do the inverse and put more importance over on Taiwan @@derekoverhage9180

[@ssotkow]

Katie Tarasov have been churning out cutting-edge chip industry video reports at scalable volume like the most advanced 2nm foundries. Well done!

[@TENNSUMITSUMA]

You think it's her alone?! She's just a reporter!

[@suckerfree4life1]

​@@TENNSUMITSUMA😮😮n

[@mikea5745]

They only do a million chips a day? Lays does like 100x as many. What an inefficient company

[@johnl.7754]

But Lays chips is delivered cracked or broken 😱

[@Phongryu]

But they still leave the bag half empty with air

[@ShanGamer1981]

Lays is inferior

[@alessandrobogoni]

Nicely done. It’s a growing start. This can improve work force. That’s the point of all economy business.

[@saulgoodman2018]

Of course there's a skills gap for chips. That's because people have to be trained in it. It's not like schools teaches people how to make chips. But if you train people. You will have the labor.

[@dennisp8520]

Um, higher education literally has degrees specifically specialized to designing chips, manufacturering chips, and have active funding to try and solve the issues we are having as we continue to go smaller and smaller. Material Engineering is going to be exploding in demand in the near future for various industries

[@saulgoodman2018]

@@dennisp8520 This is not just designing. They are talking about every signal job. CPU design is a niche field to get into. 99% of people will not go to school just for that.

[@dennisp8520]

@@saulgoodman2018 Yes, but for alot of those other tasks that your mentioning they can be overcome through innovations in automation.

[@saulgoodman2018]

@@dennisp8520 They are just too lazy to train.

[@HablaConOwens]

Moores law had a great podcast earlier this year talking about GF. They have great people and i could see them stepping into SOCs for some devices like headphones and cars.

[@xaza8uhitra4]

do you have a link? i love learning about this stuff and never heard of that pod

[@KevinSmith-qi5yn]

Most devices today use a variety of processes on its chips. CPUs and GPUs use multiple chiplets that are designed at different scales.

[@arnawawidagda7860]

@@xaza8uhitra4 He probably meant the Moore's Law is dead podcast here on KZbin.

[@AreHan1991]

Thnak you, very informative!

[@user-ek1to4gq3h]

Global foundries still around and kicking, wow, without technical issues and more relaxed. I would thought UMC is still larger then them considering how much they had fallen down.

[@Robc2007]

The whole world is adding significant chip capacity, Global Foundaries is going to see competition and oversupply in mid range chips.

[@rbkkpooi3244]

They report this so that the shareholder can sell all shares to public. China already decreasing imported chips already, after China achieve cost efficiency guess what would happen to this company.

[@thomaskim3128]

The Chinese will flood the matured nodes market with inexpensive chips. GF will probably survive on government contracts only.

[@bl5608]

Every electronic has chips. Microwave, calculator, flash lights, fridge, printers, keyboard and mouse.... Taiwan makes 60% world chips (90% advanced chips),china makes 30% and others 10%. The rest of the world need to build more and more manufacturers to catch up.

[@xhy12]

@@bl5608lol Korea makes more than China

[@co88liwan31]

@@thomaskim3128 China is also the world's biggest chip market, Once it has the ability to produce most of chips by its own, the competitors will suffer, this is happening on Samsung's storage chip

[@ssotkow]

Quick congrats to Katie on her pregnancy. Please take care of both.

[@dannybauman1454]

Not building in China was smart.

[@user-jp2td4kk5j]

tsmc is a great company that creates the progress of human civilization

[@amoghverma3108]

The coolest "fab" thing (like that's how they like to put it😊) about their survival is that they're not just in our phones, but cars, planes and maybe even rockets in future.🌎

[@Davethreshold]

That was fantastic, CNBC! I am fascinated with all things computers and the voodoo science of chipmaking. I think the Chips Act is one of the great things our country has done in the last few years! ❤🤍💙 I love your narrator voice, Katie!

[@alalfred3474]

As leading foundries amortized its processes, the cost to produce more advanced chips will reduce and the industry will be able to utilize more advanced chips. In the meantime, there are many capacity expansions under way. China is expanding its mature chip production capacity significantly. The profit margins of mature chips have come down and could be under pressure when all new projects are online.

[@organizedchaos4559]

More important question is why is Global Foundries building larger fabs outside of the U.S. than inside the U.S.. It seems it's us sites are just there to say they work in the us while the actual work is done outside of the U.S.

[@mjhou4123]

Global Foundries is not US owned company.

[@yeetian2774]

Chip manufacturing could only be done in East Asia or East Asian dominated country like Singapore because it requires the engineers to sacrifice work-life balance in order to keep the product yield.

[@derekoverhage9180]

That’s not true Tsmc is the leading manufacturer over there and as someone who works at TSMC here in America I have worked with a lot of people from Korea and Taiwan. They work 40 hours just like the USA. In some ways they are more lenient about bending rules.

[@tenmujin6438]

@@derekoverhage9180 Yeah that's because they are in the US. It's different in Taiwan.

[@94D33M]

My country (bangladesh) + India + other 3rd world countries work as a contractor for many companies so it's not much of a problem now to outsource. Other than apple. Salute to Apple to keep its integrity. No wonder it's a king of all kings.

[@BSPBuilder]

@@derekoverhage9180 That is because in TSMC they require Taiwanese engineers to work over time + relative low pay. LOL. Someone carried the weight for you.

[@supa3ek]

@@BSPBuilder lol you are ignorant

[@Eric-zo8wo]

0:01: 🔌 GlobalFoundries is a crucial chip manufacturer that powers nearly every connected device. 3:51: 🔧 GlobalFoundries pivoted their strategy to focus on essential chips and turned the company around to profitability. 7:05: 💰 GlobalFoundries is investing $7 billion to add capacity in parts of the world with lower risk, including expanding their Malta site and completing a $4 billion expansion in Singapore. 10:18: 💦 The video discusses the clean manufacturing process of silicon wafers and the significant amount of water and power required. 14:27: 🔌 GlobalFoundries, the world's largest fabless chip company, is supplying to the auto, aerospace, and U.S. Defense industries, offering assured supply and exclusive deals. Recap by Tammy AI

[@TheStringBreaker]

*Excellent for American semiconductor manufacturing! Hope we see more high-end chips re-shored as well. And innovate around the water and power!*

[@johngreat]

For this one foundry, there are probably at least 5 more just like it in China tho

[@supa3ek]

Global foundries simply has to 'receive' the technology that TSMC has to 'share' with the USA companies now due to the new agreements made !!!

[@rudyg7039]

One patter you see is they need worker but they are not afraid to layoff. Also this wafers they are still send overseas to be cut into an actual chip

[@upstatebernie4827]

Upstate NY proud! FYI it's beautiful up here.

[@user-ek1to4gq3h]

AMD switching came too late for them and AMD itself too, I feel it have brought both of them to stay at the same place and just get frustrated. Global foundries still around and kicking, wow, without technical issues and more relaxed. I would thought UMC is still larger then them considering how much they had fallen down.

[@answerman9933]

Global Foundries stock has been trending downward for 5 years.

[@mayurireddy8196]

Amazing global chip manufacturers

[@yiminyu7131]

Do qorvo and wolfspeed next

[@mack-uv6gn]

Global foundries 👍

[@nesseihtgnay9419]

American companies all need to come back to the US

[@Fightback2023]

It's not about the Chip manufacturing. The US has tight grip and control on TSMC and Samsung, the main concern for the US is China's capability to produce their own and the Chinese chip market accounts for 50% plus market shares. The US just don't want to lose the juicy money making cash cow. After all, once China masters their own chip production... what else can the US trade or sell China with? China will be self sufficient in every aspect of industrial production sector... which would lead to the true decline of the US empire.

[@auro1986]

why not bring tsmc to europe or america?

[@KevinSmith-qi5yn]

They are trying. But most of the supply chain is in South East Asia.

[@thekongstocks]

I guess you don't do research or stay on top of semi-news? "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is building two chip factories in Phoenix, Arizona. The first factory was scheduled to be operational by 2024, but has been delayed until 2025 due to construction labor issues. The second factory is expected to be up and running by 2026."

[@andyfarquhar3402]

TSMC is already in America, they have a fab in Camas, WA

[@tarrapyne5998]

i thought they were gonna talk about potato chips

[@arnawawidagda7860]

GF is so far behind even Samsung, it's not even in the same contest with TSMC. Notice how GF isn't even talking about new packaging tech or die stacking.

[@Q_QQ_Q]

GF only does old tech relatively

[@meegz149]

They bought two giant EUV machines and were like "ughhhh ya, we cant do 7nm." that is about when AMD stock really took off.

[@derekoverhage9180]

@@meegz149 lol sounds like they should have rolled the dice with ASML their machines can.

[@nesseihtgnay9419]

the video just explain why GF dont care about making the smallest nm, duh most things dont need 5nm to 3nm

[@meegz149]

@@nesseihtgnay9419 In 2014 they were consciously marketing themselves as on the "bleeding edge of the leading edge" of chip manufacturing. They tried to make chips for apple back in 2015 but their yields were too low. They really just were not very talented to hack it out passed 14nm, "oh we never really wanted to be at the top" is just them trying to save face.

[@Icebear3D]

they tell us 400.000 wafers a year, and that it will take 90 days to complete a wafer. at any one moment they have half a billion dollars of material in circulation in the factory. But they won't tell us the price of one wafer, but gave us a math problem instead.... just over 5000 a peice, based on a loose calculation.

[@Q_QQ_Q]

LoL

[@Obscurai]

It's not that they won't tell you the price of one wafer. It's that they can't since it really depends on the type of chip that will be built onto that wafer. The loose calculation you provided is an average price and which he later gave as overall fab revenue.

[@wretchdotexe]

Good that, USA!

[@ronc831]

Gracias por tus vídeos. Estoy aprendiendo español y hablas muy lento y claro. A la vez estoy aprendiendo mas sobre el mundo. Avísame sí regresas a Turquía, vivo como extranjero en la capital. Buen día amigo 👍🏾

[@santiagocarreno5881]

Although I get GF importance, they manufacture based on integrating TSMC edge chips onto larger components; therefore, if Taiwan was to be invaded tomorrow GF manufacturing would be largely blocked.

[@cbr2929]

Yeah, I thought about opening my own farm, but its a long and complicated process. Im just investing in Cannafarm ltd farms and earning every day

[@make_dollar739_perday]

"The harder I work, the luckier I get." - Samuel Goldwyn

[@s.g.e5523]

u going to be rolling the dough if can guess where the fab market is heading. i do think they should focus on make smaller chips while being cost effective while doing the 12nm chips. because there will come a time when 12nm is obsolete.

[@jie1379]

That is why my car computer so slow Bcz them 😂😂😂😂

[@meg33333]

Why did TMSC never consider coming to India?

[@John_Smith_86]

Because it is India

[@supa3ek]

lazy and dumb

[@anubizz3]

The question is why India dont make its own TMSC?

[@ongchinlam4631]

Let me say. No Chinese market. Go for India market. Okay

[@pauldannelachica2388]

Every infinity stone has power # silicon wafer

[@MIK33EY]

Nvidia doesn’t make Chips - they design them.

[@brianmccoy9548]

completely forgot about intel who makes up 20 percent of the global market

[@torrhthc4103]

GF started off as csm initially in singapore. Unlike the singapore govt that is a single party with no competition & can claim they are the best, GF cannot and obviously they are way way behind even compared to china fabs.

[@ph11p3540]

It may be globalize as a supply chain but it's one supply chain. Any one of those links goes and the whole international microprocessor industry and everything you love about modern electronics goes. It's why PC graphics cards hit unreasonably high prices when their production bottlenecked at TSMC Fab 4 complex not just the crypto miners you all love to hate. We arn't jsut building gaming system and smartphones. These vulnerable places build everything from engine management systems for every modern vehicle and modern military systems and medical devices. That's right, our global high tech supply chain hangs by a single line and everything in modern civilization hangs on it. It's as critical as oil and gas for security of a modern world. I am glad the US is adding a second supply chain of microprocessors.

[@Knowbody42]

Cars have too many computers in them anyway.

[@jf13579]

Hungry for chips now…

[@TalasDD]

they didnt talk about fab 1 at all. Malta (HQ) will never become as big as Dresden or Singapore. Singapore was just expanded and Dresden is planning to double its Size. Dresden just upgraded its capacity for water, and TSMC is also settling in Dresden.(necessitating a second extension of the water infrastructure in Dresden)

[@TalasDD]

also if the 400mm wafers will arrive it will be made in Dresden.

[@q9r8s7t6u5v4w3x2y1z0]

it's more high tech than a sausage fab

[@mgronich948]

GF will have a very tough time 3~5 5 years in the future. China is very rapidly ramping up its production capacity in the "mature" chip area that GF is in. There is already a glut of chips which is why GF laid off 800 workers. GF's factories outside the US without US tariff protection will be unprofitable when all those DUV machines China's bought goes into production. The govt will have to impose tariffs to keep domestic chip FABs profitable.

[@chillxxx241]

Right now China is losing money on every 5G phone they produce. They’ve also lost billions trying to catch up to the rest of the world in chip production. Many of the Chinese fabs abandoned the business and raise Chickens….yes Chickens instead.

[@wyganter]

But a lot of us appreciate that GF exists, considering commie Xi’s intentions for Taiwan.

[@niazmehedi]

Go USA! 🇺🇸🗽

[@karlbr21]

These guys were spun off from AMD, right?

[@PondokPesantrenBisnis]

5:49 Where is Intel ?

[@santiagocarreno5881]

Not sure if you still need the info, but according to my research Intel foundry revenue was just 300 million for that quarter. However, with their huge plant investments thing will be different from 2025 onwards

[@WealthWise-dca]

So, focused on low cost, low margin, lower tech chips?? Where is the MOAT? Agreed it is essential and really pleased to see them see them expand chip production out of Asia but is it a good investment? Cyclical business.

[@thekongstocks]

GlobalFoundries (GFS) is now the 3rd largest chip foundry in the world, I'm sure a person like you can develop a startup from scratch and create your own moat

[@ScrambleEverything]

Capital cost to build fabs.

[@WealthWise-dca]

@@thekongstockspretty dumb to think i was referring to myself

[@WealthWise-dca]

Fair , but given that it is not a very high margin business, other businesses might also not be interested in entering the space leaving GFS to operate and expand. Just don't feel bullish on the stock.

[@thekongstocks]

SURELY DUMB @@WealthWise-dca if I wasn't being sarcastic but let's dive into your second reply (below) ↓

[@jamesjross]

Global Foundries is NOT 13 years old! The fab heritage goes back to 1969.

[@CO8848_2]

Now tsmc should move to the US

[@boiscooka232]

😂❤ still Taiwan company with Chinese people in it 😢🎉

[@ssotkow]

They already moved to Arizona. Haven't you been watching Katie's CNBC chip series?

[@CO8848_2]

@@ssotkow they opened a factory, please don't get confused by mainstream media so easily.

[@ssotkow]

It would be suicide for TSMC to move everything to the US given the high employment costs and labor unions, much less the mature ecosystem of chip supply chain and skilled workforce in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Lets not get into Taiwan's domestic laws that forbid TSMC advanced chip technology nodes (e.g. 2nm fabs) from being transferred out of the Island to safeguard geopolitical leverage. You have no idea what you're talking about.@@CO8848_2

[@Obscurai]

TSMC is unlikely to move to the US. First, there is just not enough skilled labor to do that. Second, TSMC is a geo-political shield for Taiwan against China, with that the US is currently obligated to protect TSMC/Taiwan.

[@stevenjohnson891]

My math is saying $5000 per wafer. Who else?

[@iandaniel1748]

Why try build in Philippines

[@skedaritou8138]

hahahahhaa they fall for this gasligth? hahahaha I know, all my home apliances come from Seoul from that Samsung Foundry

[@AlanHurley-qe6df]

Worth investing in this business?

[@santiagocarreno5881]

Not sure; Ive been investigating a lot in the chips market, and although GFs will be more than ok, I don't think their stock will dramaticaly soar in contrast to other players like Nvidia, AMD, ASML, Amat and I would even argue Intel (people are seriously understimating Intel and its stock will soar imo in the 2025 onwards). In any case, if you are going for long term, do not buy TSMC because anything (aka China) can happen.

[@Hurls]

Thanks for your comment@@santiagocarreno5881you raise valuable points. The China - Taiwan tensions could escalate at any minute (let's see what happens with the Taiwan elections this yr!), good to see the China - US relationship improving with the presidential meetings in 2023. Already have a positions in Intel and Nvidia (NVDA are highly dependent on Taiwan too for chips). The demand for chips will cont to increase with the progression of AI + electric vehicles. Will investigate these other companies. Happy investing!

[@Slickizme]

This is such an esoteric view - as with all CNBC News.

[@ssotkow]

explain

[@kaliban4758]

A spin off company of AMD

[@user-ek1to4gq3h]

A lot of uncertainty wording and unprecise wording in the reporting

[@vblair2911]

These chips are SOCs right? Not individual ram, cpu and so on. Don't bother telling because i just watch the whole video

[@hectorcardenas2171]

The fk is soc?

[@vblair2911]

​​@@hectorcardenas2171 System on chip Its really a combination of CPU, RAM and EROM on a chip. These chips r found on the motherboards of your phones and PC. A single chip can ran a automatic car instead of having many IC chips

[@Mcfunface]

​@@vblair2911Sorry to ask, but also what does IC stand for in regards to chips?

[@vblair2911]

@@Mcfunface Integrated circuit It doesn't include any cpu, gpu or anything i just said above. So its not a computer at all. Its just made up of basic circuit components like resistors, transistors, diodes and capacitors.

[@ikehsamuelifeanyi4925]

Can Global foundry manufacture a chip of 5nm ?

[@Hasselvargen]

No

[@garydare2238]

No. One of the key takeaways in this piece was that GF finds money behind the cutting edge.

[@JigilJigil]

Take the time and watch the video.

[@sjcabbw]

not even 10nm. it stopped at 12nm few years ago.

[@JigilJigil]

The CEO is the best example of a leader without any vision, _we are OK where we are_.

[@q9r8s7t6u5v4w3x2y1z0]

AMD once had the vision to be like intel, it almost brought them into bankruptcy

[@KenLee1688]

06:08

[@TheKenzhang]

I think they should move the factory to China It be much more cost effective

[@boratsmagadijev940]

Dead company walking... Only Uncle Sam can keep it alive

[@palmshoot]

Baby's gonna be a girl. Calling it now.

[@maamriabassem3818]

First

[@furtsmagee1513]

Third

[@Kanis5000]

good job son, I knew you could do it.

[@siddhantagarwal3424]

Very mature

[@InvestingBookSummaries]

Globalfoundries is a bad company, but it has a tailwind.

[@sjcabbw]

no advanced process, no future ! end of case .

[@Ohiostategenerationx]

So another commercial again for another company. You guy's should put up a statement at the beginning of each video saying this is another commercial again.

[@justinauyeung1290]

Buying GF!

[@qake2021]

😯 overpriced ✌️

[@thekongstocks]

Katie Tarasov = Taylor Swift w/ "real-life" talent!

[@donchernoff2856]

Good video, HORRIBLY ANNOYING BACKGROUND MUSIC! Please get rid of the background music, it makes your videos unwatchable.

[@npc2480]

It’s funny how US companies with all of its money and technology is only able to produce 12 nm and 10 nm (intel) at best. Meanwhile, a country under sanctions can produce 7 nm chips.

[@coreyleander7911]

Because we buy from Taiwan?

[@aniketbhanderi6545]

It isn’t because of the technology, it is due to the cheap manufacturing of these companies. Apple is the US company which designs its own chip and gives manufacturing to tsmc

[@npc2480]

@@aniketbhanderi6545 intel manufactures chips in the US with access to the most advance lithography machine from ASML but can’t get below 10 nm. Can you explain that?

[@arnawawidagda7860]

@@aniketbhanderi6545 It is because ot the technology. TSMC was the first to produce high yielding in high capacity 7 nm and 5 nm Finfet chips. Apple, Google, Microsoft, ARM chips, AMD, NVIDIA and even AI startups like Cerebras uses TSMC solely for their chips.

[@aniketbhanderi6545]

@@arnawawidagda7860 If TSMC was able to design most powerful chips then all android phones would have comparable performance to Apple’s silicon. TSMC is a foundry which mass produces the order taken from Apple. Apple still designs its own processors. Look up on wiki.