Santa Clara, California, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, Feb. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®), the world’s leading specialty foundry, and GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. (GWC), one of the top three silicon wafer manufacturers in the world, today announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a long-term supply agreement for 300mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

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. GWC also manufactures 300mm SOI wafers, and under the anticipated supply agreement, GWC and GF will collaborate closely to significantly expand GWC’s 300mm SOI wafer manufacturing capacity.

GF intends to use the resulting additional supply of 300mm SOI wafers to meet the growing demand for its industry-leading RF SOI technologies, which are optimized to deliver a low power, high performance, and easy-to-integrate solution for current and next-generation mobile and 5G applications.

“Mobile, wireless, and 5G represent a significant opportunity for GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and our vital RF technology is featured in more than 85 percent of smartphones on the market today,” said Bami Bastani, senior vice president for mobile and wireless infrastructure at GF. “We are pleased to collaborate with GlobalWafers, and look forward to working with them to develop and qualify an additional supply of 300mm SOI wafers to integrate into our manufacturing processes and help meet the growing demand for our RF SOI solutions.”

“Given our market position, it is in our best interest – and the best interest of our clients – to build out and diversify the supply chain for 300mm SOI wafers,” said Tom Weber, senior vice president and chief procurement officer at GF. “GlobalWafers is the right partner for us to make this happen.”

“We are pleased with this opportunity to extend the long-standing partnership between GlobalFoundries and GWC, in light of the market evolution toward next-generation RF applications,” said Doris Hsu, Chairman and CEO of GWC. “Ultimately, this collaboration will lead to even greater success for both companies.”

About GlobalWafers Co., Ltd.

GlobalWafers, headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is one of the three largest silicon wafer manufacturers in the world. Founded in 1981, it was the semiconductor business unit of SAS (Sino-American Silicon Products Inc.) and spun off as GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. in 2011. Specializing in silicon wafer manufacturing, its product applications extend through power management, automotive, IoT, memory, sensors and MEMS. GlobalWafers operates out of 15 facilities in Taiwan, Japan, USA, Korea, Italy, Denmark, Malaysia, and China and is listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange. For more information about GlobalWafers, please visit http://www.sas-globalwafers.com.

About GLOBALFOUNDRIES

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) is the world’s leading specialty foundry. GF delivers differentiated feature-rich solutions that enable its clients to develop innovative products 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 clients across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit www.globalfoundries.com.

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Michael Mullaney
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
518-305-1597
michael.mullaney@globalfoundries.com

William Chen
GlobalWafers Co., Ltd.
+886-3-577-2255 EXT: 2280
william@sas-globalwafers.com