Globalfoundries Gives Up on Advanced Chip Production Technology
- Chipmaker will divert cash into expanding existing techniques
- Company is latest to drop out of expensive semiconductor race
Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
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Globalfoundries Inc., one of the world’s largest semiconductor makers, has dropped out of the race to develop the most-advanced production technology, a move that will increase the electronic industry’s reliance on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The Milpitas, California-based company, which has plants in New York state, Dresden, Germany, and Singapore, said it’s shifting resources to improving and extending existing techniques and giving up on developing 7 nanometer technology. That’s the latest way to cram as many transistors as possible onto a silicon wafer -- how the industry has improved electronic components for decades. The new strategy will require an unspecified number of job cuts.