GlobalFoundries announced a $2 billion partnership with TSMC on Thursday. The multi-year deal aims to shore up American manufacturing of advanced semiconductors used in AI datacenters. Under the agreement, GlobalFoundries will produce silicon interposers for TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate advanced packaging spec at its Malta, New York fab site.
Silicon interposers are essential for producing multi-die chip assemblies like GPUs and AI accelerators. These components sit under compute logic and memory to provide faster communication and lower power usage than conventional organic packaging. Practically every modern chip using high-bandwidth memory relies on an interposer or interconnect bridge.
US chip manufacturing faces packaging bottlenecks
Advanced packaging has remained a major bottleneck for American chip manufacturing. When TSMC began producing Nvidia Blackwell GPUs in Arizona last year, the final products still required round-tripping to Taiwan for final assembly.
TSMC previously contracted with Amkor for packaging services in the US and broke ground on its own Arizona packaging facilities. Neither facility will come online until 2028 or 2029. GlobalFoundries plans to add capacity at its Malta plant, but volume production will not start until the first half of 2028 at the earliest. The partnership is expected to last five years with an option to extend.
Intel provides alternative domestic options
Alternative options exist within the domestic market. Intel Foundry offers leading edge process and advanced packaging technology comparable to TSMC CoWoS offerings. Intel technology is compatible with silicon produced at TSMC fabs, allowing customers to use Intel packaging for TSMC-made chips without waiting for TSMC and Amkor facilities.
Volume production at GlobalFoundries will begin in the first half of 2028 at the earliest.
