GLOBALFOUNDRIES marks third anniversary by achieving full independence from AMD

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced it has agreed to terms with AMD to acquire the remaining stake in GLOBALFOUNDRIES, fulfilling the company’s long-term vision of becoming an independent foundry company.

The agreement, part of an amendment to the commercial Wafer Supply Agreement (WSA) with AMD, firmly positions GLOBALFOUNDRIES as a pure-play, leading semiconductor foundry company with AMD as one of its primary and strategic customers. GLOBALFOUNDRIES will now be wholly owned by the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).

“Today marks the start of a new era for GLOBALFOUNDRIES as it becomes a truly independent foundry,” said GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO Ajit Manocha in the press release. “GLOBALFOUNDRIES has a clear vision to be the leading semiconductor foundry partner to AMD and one of the world’s top technology companies. We continue to execute on our strategy to propel ATIC’s long-term investment philosophy into true value creation for our shareholder and customers.”

This acquisition of shares is the latest in a series of announcements marking significant milestones as GLOBALFOUNDRIES continues to gain strong momentum in the global semiconductor industry: AMD’s 32nm processor shipments increased by more than 80 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter and now represents a third of AMD’s overall processor mix. In fact, GLOBALFOUNDRIES exited 2011 as the only foundry to have shipped in the hundreds of thousands of 32nm High K Metal Gate wafers.

In January, the company announced plans for more than $3 billion in capital spending in 2012 to fund expansion of its facilities in Singapore, Germany and New York.

Also in January, the company announced that its newest 300mm manufacturing facility, Fab 8 in New York, started running the first silicon as part of a new customer agreement to develop leading-edge chips for IBM.

The company achieved several significant milestones in its longstanding partnership with ARM, including the industry’s first Cortex-A9 processor operating at more than 2.5GHz on 28nm high-performance technology, and the first 28nm ARM Cortex-A9 Processor Optimization Pack (POP) capable of up to 2GHz on a low-power process geared toward smartphones and other mobile application.

The acquisition of shares is part of a revised WSA for 2012 between GLOBALFOUNDRIES and AMD aimed at strengthening their strategic business partnership and commitment to delivering leading-edge technology solutions.

Source: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.