Alan Shaffer Joins GlobalFoundries Government Security Committee July 14, 2021 High-ranking, former Pentagon official further strengthens the company’s commitment to the U.S. government and national security needs Malta, New York, July 14, 2021 – GlobalFoundries® (GF®) today announced that the Honorable Alan Shaffer has joined the company’s Government Security Committee (GSC), effective immediately. The GSC, formed six years ago, is an integral component of GF’s long-standing program for the secure production of the U.S. Government’s most sensitive semiconductor products. Complementary to GF SHIELD, GF’s comprehensive program for safeguarding governmental and commercial customers’ most confidential and valuable information and products, the Committee advises GF’s leadership and board of directors on key issues of security, government and political affairs. “Over the last months, a chip shortage has put an intense spotlight on our industry and on just how critical U.S. semiconductor manufacturing is to ensure long-term supply to meet exploding demand,” said Saam Azar, senior vice president of Corporate Development, Legal and Government Affairs. “Secretary Shaffer brings a wealth of experience to GF’s GSC, further expanding our expertise in security and intelligence matters, and increasing GF’s reach across industries and the national security community.” Shaffer has had wide ranging leadership roles in the Department of Defense (DoD), most recently serving as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S). His accomplished and impactful career as a government leader, public official, and respected authority has earned Shaffer both the Distinguished and the Meritorious Presidential Rank Awards for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment.” On the GSC, Shaffer joins a distinguished group of former senior government officials and semiconductor industry leaders advising GF from a unique set of perspectives and diverse expertise. The committee is chaired by Ken Krieg, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; and includes Tim Hutchinson, former U.S. Senator from Arkansas; Lou Lupin, former Qualcomm Executive Vice President and General Counsel; and Mike Cadigan, GF’s senior vice president of Customer Design Enablement and long-time IBM executive. As an accredited supplier of advanced semiconductors to the U.S. government, GF is supporting secure government programs to deliver chips for defense, aerospace, and other applications vital to the national interest. In 2021, GF announced a new agreement with the DoD to provide a secure and reliable supply of semiconductor solutions manufactured at GF’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. The Malta fab is also compliant with the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). GF is convening a distinguished group of leaders from industry and government to continue the national discussion around solving semiconductor supply chain and national security challenges on Monday, July 19 at GF’s Fab 8 facility in Malta, New York. As a part of the event, GSC advisors, Ken Krieg, Al Shaffer and Mike Cadigan will participate in a panel discussion with other government and industry experts providing insight on national security needs for semiconductor supply chains. About GlobalFoundries GF is one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit globalfoundries.com. Contact: Erica McGillGLOBALFOUNDRIES(518) 795-5240[email protected]
Western Digital Appoints Dr. Thomas Caulfield and Miyuki Suzuki to Its Board of Directors July 8, 2021Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced that Dr. Thomas (Tom) Caulfield and Miyuki Suzuki have been appointed to its board of directors effective July 6, 2021. Caulfield, currently CEO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES® and Suzuki, a Japanese-based, Fortune 100 business leader, bring semiconductor and global operating experience that complements Western Digital’s growth and innovation strategy.
GlobalFoundries Appoints Jack Lazar to its Board of Directors June 24, 2021 Seasoned financial and technology executive with strong track record joins board to help accelerate next phase of growth Malta, New York, June 24, 2021 – GlobalFoundries® (GF®) today announced the appointment of Jack Lazar as an independent director to the company’s board of directors, effective July 1, 2021. With his addition, the board will be comprised of 11 members, including four independent directors. “We are delighted to have Jack join our board and audit committee, given his more than 30 years of executive and board experience with fast growing, innovative technology companies,” said Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, chairman of GF’s board of directors. “As we accelerate GF’s growth trajectory and continue to push the boundaries of the semiconductor industry forward, Jack’s contributions will be extremely valuable.” “Jack is a highly strategic technology executive known for delivering outstanding results in executive and board roles,” said Tom Caulfield, CEO of GF. “As we expand our critical role in delivering feature-rich solutions to manufacture semiconductors that are becoming more and more pervasive and vital to humankind. Jack’s guidance and experience will be an outstanding addition to our world-class board of directors.” “Semiconductors are the foundation of the technology industry,” said Jack Lazar. “GF is a transformational global semiconductor manufacturer, and now is an exciting time to be joining the company’s board of directors. I look forward to working with a great team to further accelerate the company’s growth trajectory in the industry.” Lazar brings more than 30 years of experience in operational and finance roles at various growth-oriented public and private companies, most recently as chief financial officer of GoPro. Prior to that, he served in leadership roles at Qualcomm, Atheros Communications, NetRatings, Apptitude and Electronics for Imaging (EFI). Lazar began his career at Price Waterhouse, is a certified public accountant (inactive) and currently holds both public and private board and advisory roles at various technology and consumer companies. About GlobalFoundries GF is one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit globalfoundries.com. Contact: Erica McGillGlobalFoundries(518) 795-5240[email protected]
GlobalFoundries Breaks Ground on New Fab in Singapore June 22, 2021 New Singapore facility is the first step of GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ plan to expand its global manufacturing footprint to meet increasing worldwide customer demand Malta, N.Y., and Singapore, June 22, 2021 –GlobalFoundries® (GF®), the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, today announced it is expanding its global manufacturing footprint with the construction of a new fab on its Singapore campus. In partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board and with co-investments from committed customers, GF’s more than US $4B (S$5B) investment will play an integral role in meeting the growing demand for the company’s industry-leading manufacturing technologies and services to enable companies worldwide to develop and scale their business. In a virtual groundbreaking ceremony, Singapore Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran and Mubadala Investment Company Managing Director and Group CEO H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, were joined by: UAE Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Jamal Abdulla Al Suwaidi; Singapore Ambassador to the UAE H.E. Kamal R Vaswani; Singapore Economic Development Board Managing Director Chng Kai Fong; GF Board Chairman Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi; along with GF executives including CEO Tom Caulfield; CFO David Reeder; SVP and Head of Global Operations KC Ang; SVP of Global Sales Juan Cordovez; VP of Human Resource for APAC and International Fabs Janice Lee; and VP of Technology Development in Singapore Dr. Soh Yun Siah. The global demand for semiconductor chips is growing at an unprecedented rate, with worldwide semiconductor revenue projected to increase 2.1 times in the next eight years1. To meet that demand, GF has planned capacity expansions at all its manufacturing sites in the U.S., Germany and, starting with the construction of phase one of its 300mm fab expansion, Singapore. When complete, GF will add capacity for 450,000 wafers per year, bringing GF’s Singapore campus up to approximately 1.5 million (300mm) wafers per year. The new fab will be the most advanced semi manufacturing facility in Singapore and will further enhance GF’s ability to provide its feature-rich RF, analog power, non-volatile memory solutions. GF is adding 250,000 square feet (23,000 square meters) of cleanroom space and new administrative offices. The new fab will create 1,000 new high-value jobs such as technicians, engineers and more. With construction already underway, the Fab is planned to ramp in 2023. “GF is meeting the challenge of the global semiconductor shortage by accelerating our investments around the world. Working in close collaboration with our customers and the Government of Singapore is a recipe for success that we are pioneering here and looking forward to replicating in the U.S and Europe,” said GF CEO Tom Caulfield. “Our new facility in Singapore will support fast-growing end-markets in the automotive, 5G mobility and secure device segments with long-term customer agreements already in place.” “We are committed to partnering industry leaders such as GlobalFoundries to address the global demand for semiconductors, especially in growth areas such as artificial intelligence and 5G. The semiconductor industry is a key pillar of Singapore’s manufacturing sector, and GlobalFoundries’ new fab investment is testament to Singapore’s attractiveness as a global node for advanced manufacturing and innovation. It will help GlobalFoundries’ customers to strengthen the resilience of their supply chains, and also add to the vibrancy of our economy through the creation of good jobs for Singaporeans and business opportunities for our local enterprises,” said Dr. Beh Swan Gin, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board. Semiconductor chips are more pervasive than ever, becoming one of humankind’s most vital resources. From smartphones and automobiles to technology in schools and hospitals, modern society can no longer survive without them. GF is a trusted provider to more than 250 customers worldwide and is investing, in partnership with these customers and regional governments, to expand the capacity of its global manufacturing footprint to help right the demand-supply imbalance. About GlobalFoundries GF is one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit globalfoundries.com. Media Contacts GlobalFoundries Daniel Lin +65 9878 0858 [email protected] Erica McGill +1-518-795-5240 [email protected]
GF Drives Progress in Next-Generation Automotive Radar June 21, 2021Academic researchers use GlobalFoundries technologies to boost the range, resolution and visual field of automotive radar systems, a critical need for the industry. by Gary Dagastine Automotive radar has come a long way since 1999, when Mercedes-Benz “taught the car to see” as the company puts it. That’s when Mercedes introduced the first radar-based adaptive cruise control (ACC) system to be deployed commercially, its DISTRONIC system, initially available as an option on select models. Today, of course, ACC is standard on many new cars, but it’s far from the only automotive radar application and more are on the way. Modern vehicles may have several different radars for automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane-change assist and other advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) functions. In the not-too-distant future, enhanced radar capabilities will enable more sophisticated safety systems and more autonomous vehicles. One of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, GlobalFoundries (GF) delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments, including automotive radar. GF’s range of platforms for this application – 22FDX™, RF CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS – deliver unmatched RF/mmWave performance, outstanding digital processing/integration capabilities, and ultralow-power operation. They are supported by comprehensive end-to-end services that meet the automotive industry’s demanding requirements for performance, reliability, quality, packaging and testing. GF’s Automotive, Industrial and Multi-Market (AIM) business unit is its home for automotive radar solutions, as well as for Internet of Things and industrial radar applications like traffic monitoring and factory automation. (Motion-sensing radar for cell phones is a focus of GF’s Mobile and Wireless Infrastructure business unit.) Given the growth and importance of automotive radar, Foundry Files spoke with GF’s Pirooz Parvarandeh, Chief Technology Officer of AIM, and his colleague Farzad Inanlou, Chief Technology Officer for Radar and mmWave Systems within AIM, to discuss future technical requirements in this area. GF’s strategy to meet these requirements includes collaborations with key academic researchers through GF’s University Partnership Program. We recently told how this program is advancing 6G wireless communications technology. Now, to learn how GF solutions are driving progress in automotive radar, we also spoke with GF academic partner Sorin Voinigescu, a University of Toronto professor and one of the world’s leading experts in high-frequency electronics. Range, Resolution and Field-of-View are Key GF’s Inanlou said range, resolution and field-of-view are the main requirements for automotive radar systems, and that significant improvements must be made in all of them to reach the industry’s goals. “Range, or how far ahead of the car a radar can see, is a function of the car’s speed, and by the end of the decade we’ll need to have systems with a range of 300 meters, up from about 150 meters today, to meet the needs of proposed ADAS systems,” he said. “At the same time, we’ll also need higher resolution to better distinguish between objects, much as lidar does. Lidar is a complementary light-based system which right now can identify objects more realistically than radar, but it doesn’t work well in degraded visual environments such as in heavy rain or foggy conditions. Replacing lidar with radar is desirable because lidar technology tends to be bulkier, less power-efficient and more expensive,” he said. “Finally, in order to create a complete protective zone around the car, we will need to have a much greater field-of-view, or ability to look around the car in every direction. This will require perhaps as many as 10 different radars located throughout a vehicle.” Needed: Higher Levels of Integration Much more integration with CMOS devices is also needed, to create automotive radar that offers more functionality as well as being extremely reliable, highly power efficient, and physically small. Parvarandeh said greater integration will lead to entirely new capabilities and will open up new opportunities for automakers. “Say the car in front of you suddenly stops. The next technical milestone beyond automatic emergency braking is the ability to look around and calculate whether your car can swerve around it, taking into consideration the available time plus any traffic or other obstacles near your car,” he said. “This is important not only for safety, but also because it will give automakers a new feature they can use to attract customers.” Indeed, the importance of highly integrated automotive radar systems is illustrated by the recently announced agreement between GF and Tier One auto supplier Bosch, which selected GF as its partner for development of next-generation millimeter-wave (mmWave) automotive radar system-on-chip (SoC) in part because of the broad feature integration capability of GF’s 22FDX RF platform. “Right now automotive radar operates at 80 GHz, higher than cellular frequencies, and you want to put these mmWave frequencies on the same chip with high-performance digital CMOS capabilities, so the 22FDX platform comes into play,” said Parvarandeh. “Low-power operation is also critical, not only because energy efficiency is desirable but because higher-power devices get hotter, and where these devices are located in a vehicle plays a major role in whether heat can be dissipated effectively,” he said. “Heat affects reliability, and in the future we anticipate there will be more electronics in car doors and other locations where it’s very difficult to get rid of the heat, so highly power-efficient solutions like 22FDX are a must.” While GF’s family of 22FDX solutions already offers high performance at low power, Inanlou said GF has technical roadmaps in place to achieve even higher performance, operating frequencies, and levels of integration, along with the highest possible Ft and Fmax performance in SiGe technology. That’s where the partnerships with Prof. Voinigescu and others come in. “Right now we’re working with eight professors globally who are doing important research into next-generation radars,” Inanlou said. “These collaborations are important because they result in overall reference designs and proof points for our technology which complement the work being done by our own internal teams, whose mmWave reference design work tends to be tailored to industry needs and specifications.” World Expert in High Frequency Electronics Professor Voinigescu has been involved with high-frequency electronics since the early 1980s when, as an undergraduate at Romania’s Polytechnic Institute, he assisted his professor on a project to develop a 10 GHz radio to connect computers at a distance. “Back then we were using microwave waveguides and discrete diodes rather than integrated circuits electronics. We placed these huge three-meter-wide antennas on the tops of buildings to transmit and receive the signals, and it seemed I was always up there trying to align them.” He continued, “I’ve always been interested in wireless and fiber optic technologies because I think they have been and are going to become even more necessary to the way we live. In fact, the way I look at it is that continuing to make progress in these areas is analogous to following Moore’s Law, except that unlike with Moore’s Law the technical and economic benefits of ongoing progress won’t come to an end.” Voinigescu received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and went to work at Nortel Networks, where he spearheaded state-of-the-art modeling approaches for wireless and broadband fiber optics transceivers built using emerging semiconductor technologies like SiGe. After leaving Nortel, he co-founded Quake Technologies Inc., which in 2001 became the world’s first company to commercialize a 10-Gb Ethernet transceiver. An IEEE Fellow and the recipient of numerous industry and Canadian awards, he’s been a professor at Toronto for nearly two decades, with a focus on mmWave and 100+Gb/s integrated circuits, atomic-scale semiconductor technologies, and more recently on quantum computing, where he uses 22FDX technology to manipulate qubits at up to 200 GHz. He has about a dozen Ph.D. students who have won numerous accolades for their own work, and one of academia’s most well-equipped laboratories for testing and characterizing devices and circuits at frequencies up to 750 GHz. “Without Silicon We Wouldn’t be Able to Do Anything” For many years Voinigescu worked with IBM on SiGe technologies, and that relationship not only continued but expanded when GF absorbed IBM’s semiconductor unit several years ago. A noteworthy benefit for GF is that Voinigescu has also had a long relationship with GF’s 22FDX platform partner Bosch. “My team has long worked with Bosch’s research group on SiGe BiCMOS devices for 80-240 GHz transceivers, a collaboration which continues to this day, among others,” he said. Voinigescu said that most of the sensor projects he takes on, such as automotive radar applications, are in the frequency range of 60-160 GHz, and he now almost exclusively works in the 22FDX technology. “FDX has a unique feature which lets us do things that otherwise would be very difficult or consume too much power,” he said. “The fact it has a back gate lets you either integrate new functions or increase the speed of the circuit without adding to the power burden, which extends device lifetimes because there’s less of a thermal issue.” “As things become more digital, a lot of signal processing is going to have to be done on one chip so if you go with a CMOS solution like 22FDX instead of using GaAs, InP or other technologies, you’ll enjoy more digital functionality and control, power advantages and the opportunity to retain these advantages while moving to still-higher frequencies.” As an example, he pointed to an automotive radar system he’s working on using the 22FDX platform. It’s an 80/160 GHz dual polarization transceiver that demonstrates better performance, to the tune of 6-10 dB higher phase noise, than competing designs. “Without silicon, we wouldn’t be able to do anything,” he said. A Fruitful Partnership Voinigescu said he appreciates the collaboration with GF on the 22FDX platform. GF provides him access to 22FDX technology and the necessary support and guidance. He and his students characterize the technology for different applications at greater than 100 GHz, and share the results with GF. “It isn’t easy to do this work, but we’ve verified our models at above 100 GHz,” he said. “When people look at our work they see that the 22FDX platform is an appealing technology. It’s win all around for my research team, GlobalFoundries, their customers, and the industry as a whole.”
GlobalFoundries and GlobalWafers Partnering to Expand Semiconductor Wafer Supply June 7, 2021 Long-term $800 million supply deal includes $210 million capital expansion, creation of more than 75 new jobs in Missouri and will provide specialized wafers for GF’s manufacturing facilities in New York and Vermont Malta, New York, June 7, 2021 – GlobalFoundries® (GF®), the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, and GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. (GWC), one of the top silicon wafer manufacturers in the world, today announced an $800 million agreement to add 300mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturing and expand existing 200mm SOI wafer production at GWC’s MEMC facility in O’Fallon, Missouri. The silicon wafers produced by GWC are key input materials for semiconductors and an integral part of GF’s supply chain. The wafers are used in GF’s multi-billion dollar manufacturing facilities, or fabs, where they are used to manufacture the computer chips that are pervasive and vital to the global economy. Today’s announcement expands GF’s domestic silicon wafer supply from the United States. In particular, the 300mm wafers made at GWC’s MEMC site in Missouri will be used at GF’s most advanced manufacturing facility, Fab 8 in Malta, New York, and the 200mm wafers made at the Missouri site will be used at GF’s Fab 9 in Essex Junction, Vermont. These wafers will be used to create feature-rich semiconductor solutions to meet the sharply growing demand for GF’s advanced RF technologies across a range of applications including 5G smartphones, wireless connectivity, automotive radar, and aerospace. The long-term agreement includes nearly $210 million in capital expenditures to expand GWC’s MEMC facility in Missouri, and will create more than 75 new jobs. The 300mm pilot line is on track to be completed in Q4 this year. The agreement is strengthened by $9.4 million in investments and support from the State of Missouri, as well as support from the City of O’Fallon, Ameren Missouri, Spire, and Greater St. Louis, Inc. GF is investing $1.4 billion in 2021 alone to expand its manufacturing capacity, to meet the needs of customers and address the growing global demand for computer chips. As part of this growth, GF will require an increased supply of wafers like those made by GWC. GWC is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of 200mm SOI wafers and has a long and ongoing relationship with GF for supplying 200mm SOI wafers. In February 2020, GWC and GF announced intentions to collaborate closely to significantly expand GWC’s existing 300mm SOI wafer manufacturing capacity. Today’s announcement signals a significant step forward in that collaboration. Today’s announcement comes at a time when the United States is seeking to fortify and expand its semiconductor supply chain, which enables the $91 trillion world economy. Only 12 percent of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity is in the United States. Critical to increasing the number of chips manufactured in the U.S., and making U.S. chip manufacturing more globally competitive, are federal investments like those enabled by the bipartisan-supported U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and the already passed CHIPS for America Act. “Semiconductors are critical to our national security and economic competitiveness,” said U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, an instrumental supporter of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. “The supply chain of these computer chips is highly complex and largely dominated by other countries. We need to begin making more chips at home to protect U.S. industries from chip shortages like we have seen in recent months. Today’s announcement is good news for semiconductor manufacturing and will create steady, good-paying, high-tech jobs for Missourians.” “As a trusted semiconductor manufacturer and supplier to the U.S. government, and the world leader in RF semiconductor technology, GF has been leading the charge to accelerate U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and boost our capacity to meet the growing global demand for chips,” said GF CEO Tom Caulfield. “The kind of partnership we are announcing today with GWC is only possible thanks to Congressional leadership and the renewed national interest in growing U.S. semiconductor manufacturing capacity.” “We are proud to deepen our strategic partnership with GF, and to expand our important role in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain,” said Doris Hsu, Chairman and CEO of GWC. “We thank the State of Missouri for its support. We also thank our incredible O’Fallon team, whose dedication and hard work have enabled our success and growth. We look forward to ramping up our 300mm pilot line this year, and accelerating our build-out with GF.” “We’re proud to see a Missouri business step up to address the critical semiconductor need we are seeing in countless industries all across our state and nation,” said Missouri Governor Mike Parson. “MEMC’s expansion will strengthen the global semiconductor supply chain, promote American manufacturing, and support good-paying jobs right here in Missouri.” “For more than six decades, we have been the home of MEMC and its manufacturing of world class silicon wafers,” said O’Fallon Mayor Bill Hennessy. “O’Fallon takes pride in providing a business and family-friendly environment with a high quality of life that supports MEMC’s success. We are thrilled by this new partnership between GlobalWafers and GLOBALFOUNDRIES and the positive impact it will have on our city, state and nation.” GF employs more than 7,000 people across the U.S. Over the past 12 years the company has invested $15 billion in U.S. semiconductor development, and it is doubling its planned investment in 2021 to expand global capacity and support growing demand from the U.S. government and industry customers for secure processing and connectivity applications. About GlobalFoundries GF is the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturer and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit www.globalfoundries.com. ### Media Contact Michael MullaneyGlobalFoundries(518) 305-1597[email protected]
Frictionless Networking: A Megatrend that Requires Powerful RF Solutions May 28, 2021 Frictionless networking, virtualization, and hierarchical AI are three technological megatrends that will transform how we live and work. This article on frictionless networking is the first in a series examining how GlobalFoundries solutions enable each of these megatrends. Although the transistor debuted nearly three quarters of a century ago, paving the way for solid-state integrated circuits and ushering in the electronics revolution, the last two years may have been the most momentous ones ever in the industry’s history. In 2019, geopolitical tensions brought a sharp focus to the strengths and vulnerabilities of the global semiconductor supply chain. Because of the need for a reliable supply of chips for all manner of products, semiconductors suddenly became a flashpoint for industrial, commercial and foreign-relations policies. Then, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, awareness of the raw power of the world’s digital infrastructure grew, as people began to depend on it more heavily than ever before to fight the contagion, to run companies remotely, to educate students, to socialize, and for many other things large and small. GlobalFoundries (GF) CEO Tom Caulfield said that ever since society realized supply chain issues and the pandemic weren’t short-term crises, there’s been a deepening awareness of the importance of digital technologies and how they will forever change our lives. “It’s amazing to see not only how pervasive and resilient the digital infrastructure had become over the last decade, and yet how little of its full potential was exploited until COVID-19,” he said. “We started to imagine not a new normal, but a better normal. This better normal will come from exploiting the capabilities of our pervasive, expanding and improving digital infrastructure. …. This is not just an opportunity for our industry, it’s our calling.” As a result, GF sees three megatrends and one enormous hurdle that have emerged, Caulfield said, and GF solutions are critical to all of them. The first is frictionless networking – a ubiquitous “always-on, seamless, intelligent and secure connection, 24 hours, seven days a week” – which we’ll explore in greater depth below in this blog. The second megatrend is pervasive deployment of virtualization. “Network function virtualization (NFV) is a great example,” Caulfield said. “This is where network processing is done in the cloud, and data is transported from dumb access points to the cloud for processing. This results in significant scale advantages similar to the value proposition of cloud storage and computing we enjoy today. NFV significantly improves bandwidth and speed, and it does it at a much lower cost and power point. Also, given the flexible nature of a virtualized network, the time and effort to deploy new services can be enhanced, as the new feature will come via a software push versus a hardware upgrade to the user.” The final megatrend is hierarchical artificial intelligence (AI), or “AI Everywhere,” from devices to sensors, from the edge to the cloud. “Data is the new gold, but it is only ore if we can extract it from a raw, unstructured format and use it to gain insights, take action and make decisions,” Caulfield said. “The amount of structured and unstructured data generated in just the last two years alone is greater than all of the data generated before, yet we only use 3% of all this data. Hierarchical AI is the key to extracting value from immense, unstructured data by parsing it to extract important information, then compressing it for more efficient transport to compute and storage.” While each megatrend has its own hurdles and challenges, and reducing power consumption is a make-or-break issue for all of them, the move to a digital future is unstoppable. Frictionless Networking is Coming “Our vision for future network connectivity is that you’re not even going to know what network you’re connected to, your device will automatically find it, authenticate it and optimize it for bandwidth, latency and other critical attributes,” said Peter Gammel, Vice President and CTO of GF’s Mobile and Wireless Infrastructure Business Unit. “We call this frictionless networking because when we talk about how we see connectivity playing out in the years to come as wireless systems make use of increasingly fast RF and mmWave spectrum, we don’t want to get lost in the details of 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or some other network protocol. “Instead, the key point is this: No matter how you connect, the last hop between a network and your device is always going to be wireless,” he said, “and that means even though there’s already been a virtual explosion of radio frequency (RF) content in all sorts of devices, the trend is only going to accelerate.” Gammel said it isn’t just smartphones, tablets and PCs that will depend on frictionless networking capabilities. A universe of diverse products will need it to function, in applications as varied as Industry 4.0 (i.e., smart, automated manufacturing); the Internet of Things (IoT); wearables for health and wellness; automotive systems like advanced driver assistance (ADAS); and others too numerous to mention. The challenges are enormous. Data traffic at key network hubs is on a steep incline – up to 40% in some cases – and those rates are only going to increase in the coming years, Gammel said in a keynote address at the 2021 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium. “Future networks will require extreme capacity and data rates, much higher spectral efficiency, ultra-low latency, much higher reliability and robust security.” The Best RF Technology Will Carry the Day That’s all well and good, but anyone who has experienced difficulty in connecting to a network might wonder how we will ever reach a state of frictionless networking. What will it take to get there? “I’ve been in this industry for 40 years, and the way you measure success has never changed: It always comes down to leadership in RF technologies, which are essential to the performance and power consumption of front-end modules (FEMs) and power amplifiers, the most critical elements of a wireless communications system,” Gammel said. He said that to maximize the use of available spectrum, the push is on to drive output power as close to reliability limits as possible. That plays to GF’s strengths as the longstanding leader in many different RF technologies, including RF-SOI (RF silicon on insulator), FD-SOI (fully depleted silicon on insulator) and SiGe (silicon germanium) solutions. “Our RF SOI solutions are the go-to choice for integrated FEMs and beamformers in 5G base stations and smartphones,” Gammel said. “Meanwhile, because our 22FDX™ FD-SOI solution combines RF, analog, embedded memory, and advanced logic in one chip, they offer unmatched peak performance and energy efficiency for the integration of FEM elements like data converters, LNAs, power amplifiers (PAs) and switches with a transceiver.” In addition, he said, GF’s SiGe solutions are widely used in Wi-Fi and cellular power amplifiers, and SiGe technology provides a path to the terahertz frequencies needed for future network architectures. “The Best is Yet to Come” Gammel laid out what he sees as the other necessary ingredients for frictionless networking. “Turnkey assembly and test capabilities are going to become more important as the industry moves to terahertz frequencies, because the interface between circuits and packaging becomes more critical to performance. Do you put the antenna on the package or on the die, and what is the best configuration?” he said. Open interfaces are another requirement. “Proprietary interface protocols never win. Open interfaces are critical in building an ecosystem, and we’re seeing this already in network infrastructure and in standards-setting activities,” he said. One example is the 5G Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) initiative. Also, non-terrestrial networks that make use of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations are key to delivering connectivity to underserved geographies. “The commercial deployment of LEO constellations isn’t science fiction, it’s happening. The Starlink constellation from SpaceX is an example,” he said. “Much work remains to be done and many technology innovations are still required to leverage the vast, untapped spectrum from 100 GHz to 1 THz, but we have made great progress already and the best is yet to come,” Gammel said. The next article in this series will focus on the virtualization megatrend.
平顺的网络：一个需要强大射频解决方案的大趋势 May 28, 2021平顺的网络、虚拟化和分层人工智能，这三大技术趋势将改变我们的生活和工作方式。本文围绕平顺的网络而展开，是系列文章的一部分，该系列文章将探讨格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）解决方案如何让这些大趋势得以实现。 尽管晶体管在近75年前就首次亮相，为固态集成电路铺平了道路，并迎来了电子革命，但过去两年可能才是行业历史上最重要的两年。 2019年，地缘政治的紧张局势使人们更加关注全球半导体供应链的优势和短板。由于各种产品都需要可靠的芯片供应，半导体突然成为工业、商业和外交政策的一个热点。 随后，在2020年新冠疫情的推动下，人们愈发认识到全球数字化基础设施的强大力量，因为人们变得比以往任何时候都更加依赖它来对抗疫情、远程运营公司、开展线上教学、社交，以及处理许多其他大小事情。 格芯首席执行官Tom Caulfield表示，自从社会意识到供应链问题和疫情不是短期危机以来，人们对数字技术的重要性及其将如何永远改变我们生活的认识便不断加深。 他说：“令人惊讶的是，虽然数字化基础设施在过去的十年里变得如此普及和富有弹性，但直到新冠肺炎疫情的爆发，它的潜力才得以充分发掘。我们开始想象的不是‘新常态’，而是‘更好的常态’。这种更好的常态就是利用我们广泛普及的能力扩展和改进数字化基础设施。….这不仅是我们行业的发展良机，也是我们的使命。” 因此，Caulfield说道，格芯发现在这个进程中出现了三个大趋势和一个大阻碍，而格芯解决方案对所有这些都至关重要。第一个大趋势是平顺的网络，这是一种无处不在的“全天候、不间断、7X24小时的安全智能化连接”——我们将在本文稍后更深入地探讨这个问题。 第二个大趋势是虚拟化部署的普及。Caulfield说：“网络功能虚拟化（NFV）就是一个非常好的例子。在这些领域，网络处理在云端进行，且数据从‘哑’接入点传输至云端进行处理。这样就产生了巨大的规模优势，类似于我们现在享受的云存储和云计算价值主张。NFV能够以明显更低的成本和功率大幅提升网络带宽和速度。同时，鉴于虚拟化网络的灵活特性，部署新服务所需的时间和精力得以缩减，因为新功能将通过向用户进行软件‘推送’而不是硬件升级的方式来实现。” 最后一个大趋势是从器件到传感器、从网络边缘到云端的分层人工智能，也即“无处不在的人工智能”。Caulfield表示：“数据是一种新型黄金，但只有当我们将数据从一种原始、非结构化格式中提取出来，并利用它来获得见解、采取行动和做出决策时，才能找到金矿。仅过去两年产生的结构化和非结构化数据的数量就比之前产生的所有数据都要多，然而我们只使用了所有这些数据中的3%。分层人工智能是从大量非结构化数据中提取价值的关键，它通过解析数据来提取重要信息，然后压缩数据以提高计算和存储的传输效率。” 虽然每个大趋势都有其自身的阻碍和挑战，而降低功耗是决定所有大趋势成败的一个关键问题，但向数字化未来的发展步伐是势不可挡的。 平顺的网络即将到来 格芯移动和无线基础架构业务部副总裁兼首席技术官Peter Gammel表示：“我们对未来网络连接的设想是，您甚至不用知道要连接什么网络，您的设备会自动找到它，对它进行认证，并针对带宽、延迟和其他关键属性进行优化。我们之所以称之为平顺的网络，是因为当我们谈到随着无线系统使用越来越快的射频和毫米波频谱，我们要如何看待未来几年的连通方式时，我们不想迷失在5G、6G、Wi-Fi、蓝牙或其他一些网络协议的细节中。” “关键在于：无论您通过什么方式连接，网络和设备之间的最后一跳都是采用无线方式，”他说。“这意味着，即使各种设备中的射频（RF）内容已经有了实质性的爆炸增长，但这一趋势只会加速。” Gammel表示，不仅仅是智能手机、平板电脑和个人电脑将依赖于平顺网络功能。各种不同的产品都将需要它来发挥作用，比如工业4.0（即自动化智能制造）应用、物联网（IoT）、可穿戴医疗保健设备、先进驾驶辅助（ADAS）等汽车系统，以及众多其他应用。 挑战是巨大的。Gammel在2021年IEEE国际可靠性物理学研讨会（IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium）的主题演讲中说道，关键网络枢纽的数据流量会急剧增长，在某些情况下增长高达40%，而且这些比率在未来几年只会更高。“未来的网络将需要极高的容量和数据速率、更高的频谱效率、超低延迟、更高的可靠性和强大的安全性。” 出色的射频技术将扛起大旗 一切听起来都是那么好，但任何经历过网络连接困难的人可能都会想，我们要如何达到平顺的网络状态。要怎样才能实现这个目标呢？ Gammel说：“我已经在这个行业工作了40年，在这里，衡量成功的方法从未变过，那就是：最后都要归结于在射频技术方面的领导地位，这对前端模块（FEM）及功率放大器的性能和功耗至关重要，而这些又是无线通信系统中最关键的元件。” 他说道，为了最大限度地利用可用频谱，我们正在努力使输出功率尽可能地接近可靠性极限。这就发挥了格芯作为多种不同射频技术的长期领导者的优势，包括RF-SOI（射频绝缘体上硅）、FD-SOI（全耗尽绝缘体上硅）和SiGe（硅锗）解决方案。 Gammel说：“我们的RF SOI解决方案是5G基站和智能手机中集成FEM和波束形成器的首选。同时，由于我们的22FDX™ FD-SOI解决方案将射频、模拟、嵌入式存储器和先进逻辑整合到一个芯片中，它们为数据转换器、LNA、功率放大器（PA）和带收发器的开关等FEM元件的集成提供了出色的峰值性能和能效。” 此外，他表示，格芯的SiGe解决方案广泛用于Wi-Fi和蜂窝功率放大器，SiGe技术为未来网络架构所需的太赫兹频率提供了一条途径。 “更好的还在后头” Gammel提出了他认为平顺的网络中必不可少的其他因素。他说：“随着行业向太赫兹频率发展，统包式组装和测试能力将变得更加重要，因为电路和封装之间的接口对性能而言变得更加关键。是把天线放在封装上还是放在裸片上？最好的配置是什么？” 另一个必要因素是开放式接口。他说：“专有接口协议永远不会占上风。开放式接口对于构建生态系统至关重要，我们已经在网络基础设施和标准制定活动中看到了这一点。”一个例子是5G开放式无线接入网（Open RAN）倡议。 此外，利用近地轨道（LEO）星座卫星的非地面网络是向信号覆盖不佳的地区提供连接的关键所在。他说：“LEO星座的商业部署不是科幻小说，而是现实。来自SpaceX的星链（Starlink）星座就是一个例子。” Gammel表示：“要利用从100 GHz到1 THz的大量尚未开发的频谱，还有很多工作要做，并需要进行技术创新，但我们已经取得了很大的进展，更好的还在后头。” 本系列的下一篇文章将重点介绍虚拟化大趋势。敬请期待！
Raytheon Technologies和格芯携手加快5G无线连接技术发展 May 19, 2021双方达成战略协作并签订许可协议，共同开发新的氮化镓技术，助力发展未来的无线网络 马萨诸塞州沃尔瑟姆和佛蒙特州伯灵顿，2021年5月19日 – 领先的航空航天和国防科技公司Raytheon Technologies（NYSE：RTX）和全球领先的特殊工艺半导体制造商格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®，GF®）将协作开发新型硅基氮化镓（GaN-on-Si）半导体并实现其商业化。这种半导体将为5G和6G移动及无线基础设施应用带来颠覆性的射频性能。 根据协议，Raytheon Technologies将授权格芯使用其专有的硅基氮化镓技术和专业知识，在其位于佛蒙特州伯灵顿的Fab 9厂开发这种新型半导体。氮化镓是一种独特的材料，用于制造可耐受高热量和高功率水平的高性能半导体。这种优点使得它非常适合处理5G和6G无线信号，因为这些信号需要比传统无线系统更高的性能水平。 “Raytheon Technologies是推动射频砷化镓技术发展的先驱之一，该技术已经广泛应用于移动和无线市场。同样，在推动氮化镓在先进军事系统中的使用方面，我们也处于前沿，”Raytheon Technologies首席技术官Mark Russell表示，“我们与格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）达成的协议不仅展现了我们共同的目标，即以低廉的成本为客户提供高性能的通信技术，同时还将继续证明我们在先进国防技术上的投资如何改善人们的生活，并且保护人们的安全。” “在这种重要5G实现技术的国内生产方面，格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）设在埃塞克斯的晶圆厂处于领先地位，这令我倍感自豪。对于佛蒙特州及至整个美国，这都是一场胜利，”美国参议院拨款委员会主席Patrick Leahy参议员表示，“对于美国的半导体供应链和竞争能力而言，世界一流制造商格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）与技术创新领导者Raytheon Technologies之间的这次协作是一大利好消息，在佛蒙特州开发的这种技术将掀起我们生活中的一场革命。” “格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）的创新推动了四代无线通信技术的演进，让40多亿人能够进行通信交流。我们与Raytheon Technologies的协作是一个非常重要的举措，旨在确保关键未来5G应用解决方案的开发和制造能力，”格芯首席执行官Tom Caulfield说道，“此次合作将涉及到众多应用领域，从支持人 工智能的手机和无人驾驶汽车到智能电网，以及政府对数据和网络的访问，这种应用对国家安全至关重要。” 凭借格芯出色的制造能力，结合在射频、测试和封装方面的差异化服务，新的GaN产品将能提升射频性能，同时维持生产和运营成本，让客户能够达到全新功耗水平和功率附加效率（PAE），以满足不断演进的5G和6G射频毫米波工作频率标准。 与Raytheon Technologies的此次协作是格芯的最新战略性合作，它进一步证明了格芯公司致力于通过提供差异化解决方案来重新定义创新前沿，而业界的其他公司仍在采用日趋困难的传统技术升级。 作为深受客户信赖的半导体制造工厂，自2005年以来，格芯在Fab 9厂聘用了将近2,000名员工，在美国聘用了超过7,000名员工。过去10年内，该公司在美国半导体发展方面投资了150亿美元，并计划在2021年将投资增加一倍，目的是提高全球生产能力，满足美国政府和工业客户在安全处理和连接应用方面不断增长的需求。 关于格芯 格芯®（GLOBALFOUNDRIES®）是全球领先的半导体制造商，也是唯一一家真正实现全球运营的半导体制造商。格芯提供功能丰富的解决方案，赋能客户为高增长的市场领域开发普适芯片。格芯拥有广泛的工艺平台及特性，并提供独特的融合设计、开发和生产为一体的服务。格芯拥有遍布美洲、亚洲和欧洲的规模生产足迹，以其灵活性与应变力满足全球客户的动态需求。格芯隶属Mubadala Investment Company。如需了解更多信息，请访问www.globalfoundries.com。 关于Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation是一家航空航天和国防公司，致力于为全球各地的商业、军事、政府机构用户提供先进的系统和服务。该公司旗下拥有四家行业领先的企业，包括Collins Aerospace、Pratt & Whitney、Raytheon Intelligence & Space和Raytheon Missiles & Defense，其提供的解决方案推动在航空电子、网络安全、定向能源、电力推进、特超声和量子物理等领域内不断取得突破。该公司是在2020年由Raytheon Company和United Technologies Corporation航空航天业务部门合并组成，总部位于马萨诸塞州沃尔瑟姆。 媒体联系人
Raytheon Technologies and GlobalFoundries Partner to Accelerate 5G Wireless Connectivity May 19, 2021 Strategic collaboration and licensing agreement to develop new Gallium Nitride technology will enable future wireless networks Waltham, Mass. and Burlington, Vt., May 19, 2021 – Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX), a leading aerospace and defense technology company, and GlobalFoundries® (GF®), the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, will collaborate to develop and commercialize a new gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) semiconductor that will enable game-changing radio frequency performance for 5G and 6G mobile and wireless infrastructure applications. Under the agreement, Raytheon Technologies will license its proprietary gallium nitride on silicon technology and technical expertise to GF, which will develop the new semiconductor at its Fab 9 facility in Burlington, Vermont. Gallium nitride is a unique material used to build high-performance semiconductors that can handle significant heat and power levels. This makes it ideal to handle 5G and 6G wireless signals, which require higher performance levels than legacy wireless systems. “Raytheon Technologies was one of the pioneers advancing RF gallium arsenide technology which has been broadly used in mobile and wireless markets, and we have similarly been at the forefront of advancing gallium nitride technology for use in advanced military systems,” said Mark Russell, Raytheon Technologies’ chief technology officer. “Our agreement with GlobalFoundries not only demonstrates our common goal to make high performance communications technologies available at an affordable cost to our customers, it continues to prove how investments in advanced defense technologies can improve lives, as well as defend them.” “I am proud that GlobalFoundries’ fab in Essex is leading the way in domestic production of this important 5G-enabling technology and beyond. This is a win for Vermont and a win for the United States,” said Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This collaboration between a world-class manufacturer, GlobalFoundries, and Raytheon Technologies, a leader in technological innovation, is good news for the nation’s semiconductor supply chain and competitiveness. The technology that will be produced by Vermonters will be a revolution in our lives.” “GlobalFoundries’ innovations have helped drive the evolution of four generations of wireless communications that connect over 4 billion people. Our collaboration with Raytheon Technologies is an important step to ensuring the development and manufacturing capability of solutions for critical future 5G applications,” said GF CEO Tom Caulfield. “This partnership will enable everything from AI-supported phones and driverless cars to the smart grid, as well as governments’ access to data and networks which are essential to national security.” Combined with GF’s manufacturing excellence and differentiated services in RF, testing, and packaging, the new GaN offering will increase RF performance while maintaining production and operational costs, enabling customers to achieve new levels of power and power-added efficiency to meet evolving 5G and 6G RF millimeter-wave operating frequency standards. This collaboration with Raytheon Technologies is the latest of several strategic partnerships for GF and is further evidence of the company’s commitment to redefine the leading-edge by delivering differentiated solutions, while the rest of the industry continues to pursue traditional and increasingly difficult technology scaling. As a Trusted semiconductor manufacturing facility since 2005, GF employs nearly 2,000 people at Fab 9, and more than 7,000 people across the U.S. Over the past 10 years the company has invested $15 billion in U.S. semiconductor development and is doubling its planned investment in 2021 to expand global capacity and support growing demand from the U.S. government and industry customers for secure processing and connectivity applications. About GF GF is the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturer and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop pervasive chips for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit www.globalfoundries.com. About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses ― Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense ― the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Media Contacts GlobalFoundriesErica McGill+1-518-795-5240[email protected] Raytheon TechnologiesChris JohnsonC: +1 202-384.2474[email protected]
