Fab2 for GlobalFoundries at Malta

NEW YORK, USA: Plans for a new fab in Malta has finally materialized for GlobalFoundries. The company, kick started work on building Fab 2 in Malta after years of wait, thereby lining up the moving in of the first tool move by October 2011 and qualification by early 2012.

According to an industry source, the new fab would see the start of commercial production by the second half of 2012. The company is a spin off of  Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

The company had begun planning for the new facility in Malta way back in June 2006. However, it had to wait till June 19 of this year to start clearing portions of its 230-acre site. A report added that Fab 2 is expected start making volume silicon by the second half of 2012. The company would be employing 1400 personnel directly and close to 5000 indirect workers.

Pointing out that the new Fab 2 is a significant momentum shift in the company’s operations, Norm Armour, General Manager, GlobalFoundries, said he had been watching the manufacturing shift from the US to Asian foundries all through his career.

He said: "We are on the other side, trying to bring manufacturing back to a US fab." This is seen by the industry as a significant move. GlobalFoundries has been supported by the Abu Dhabi Investment Co (ATIC) through a $6 billion investment. The amount of money is being channeled to build the Fab 2 at Malta, which will incur a total cost of $4.2 billlion.

A part of the money will go into the upgrade of GlobalFoundries’ Module 2 in Dresden, Germany, the report added.