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Tim Culpan

A Forgotten Chipmaker May be Key to Ending the Global Shortage

Well-placed bets on older technology could be crucial to building the semiconductor capacity the world actually needs.

The GlobalFoundries semiconductor fabrication plant in Dresden, Germany.

The GlobalFoundries semiconductor fabrication plant in Dresden, Germany.

Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
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“Legacy” and “mature” are the words usually thrown at the semiconductors Tom Caulfield produces at factories in Singapore, the U.S. and Germany. He doesn’t like that.

Instead, the chief executive officer of GlobalFoundries wants people to refer to his chips as “feature-rich,” a term he feels better describes their wide array of uses. His point is valid. While larger rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp. battle it out to make ever-more advanced chips, the world is suffering most from a lack of capacity in the very products that GlobalFoundries offers.