- Govt fund
- Secured new land
- Collaboration with Skywater Tech
All points to fab8 extension ?
4 replies (most recent on top)
The land was not actually purchased - that was clear in the announcement. It is an "option". A similar move was made previously.
From a friend I have that is "in the know" (won't go any further than that), he is saying that the agreement with the Big I and scuttling of the China fab are part of an arrangement that is being worked on for the Big I to provide process technology to GF for advanced process for Trusted Foundry. This way I doesn't have to worry about it's China ops interfering with TF ceritification and it leaves GF to get the necessary funding to keep the USA government and DoD supplied with leading edge parts. This also means that an expansion at Malta may be something that is being worked on with Fed support to supply 10nm and below parts a few years out.
My guess is they didn't buy the land, but only secured the option to buy it at a pre-decided price, in case they get government funds. The present fab is not operating at the capacity which was advertised on the lanyards in late 2018.
Is the present fab anywhere near capacity? My guess is they bought the land thinking they might eventually need it but can't imagine this will happen anytime soon.