Re: Dot Connecting....or not....
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Aiming to become the global leader in chip-scale photonic solutions by deploying Optical Interposer technology to enable the seamless integration of electronics and photonics for a broad range of vertical market applications
Message: Re: Dot Connecting....or not....
4. Others? (Another Possibility)
Maybe AM has POET fitting into an even bigger plan, a plan that has been in the works since Globalfoundries first established itself, to be the #1 Foundry in the world.
Let's look at GF.
From an article written by Dave Smith (March 2012)
http://www.ibtimes.com/why-globalfoundries-bought-out-amd-went-rogue-420796
GlobalFoundries, the chip maker based in Milpitas, Calif., celebrated its third year anniversary as a microchip foundry by purchasing all of the shares owned by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), effectively making the company an independent contract chip manufacturer.
Today marks the start of a new era for GlobalFoundries as it becomes a truly independent foundry, said Ajit Manocha, GlobalFoundries' CEO. Globalfoundries has a clear vision to be the leading semiconductor foundry partner to AMD and one of the world's top technology companies. We continue to execute on our strategy to propel ATIC's long-term investment philosophy into true value creation for our shareholder and customers.
By purchasing the shares, AMD will be charged about $703 million, and must pay GlobalFoundries $425 million over two years and relinquish its 8.8 percent stake in the manufacturer. In return, AMD will still work with GlobalFoundries and receive chips at renegotiated price points, and won't have to pay the chip foundry another $430 million in 2012.
While GlobalFoundries isn't AMD's exclusive foundry anymore, the company is moving onwards and upwards. The firm will still be owned by ATIC, but even without AMD, GlobalFoundries is still the world's third largest independent semiconductor manufacturer. The company will continue to build integrated circuits for AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom and STMicroelectronics, and its production level will continue to increase as the company expands and acquires more companies.
Lately, GlobalFoundries had been an extremely productive venture. In the last quarter alone, the foundry shipped 80 percent more 32-nanometer microprocessors to AMD than in the previous quarter, and in January, the company announced they would set aside about $3 billion in 2012 to expand its factories in Germany, Singapore and New York, which will be home to a new 300-millimeter wafer manufacturing plant in the company's effort to make chips for IBM.
Moving forward to November 2012, from an article written by Richard D'Errico
http://www.phillipslytle.com/include/uploads/NEWS-2012-11-30-Attea_GlobalFoundries.pdf
GlobalFoundries is considering an initial public offering once it reaches profitability, a move that could provide added stability and more business to the fastest growing chip manufacturer in the world.
Travis Bullard, a spokesman for GlobalFoundries, said the focus is first on reaching profitability, which is expected to happen by 2015.
A public offering would provide GlobalFoundries funds to expand while creating greater transparency. Frederick Attea, a partner at the Buffalo-based law firm Phillips Lytle, said a public offering would demonstrate that GlobalFoundries has a strong track record, solid management in place and a promising future.
“People feel more comfortable when dealing with a public company because you can know the company you’re dealing with by looking at the SEC filings,” said Attea, who has worked on more than 10 IPOs.
That transparency also could be attractive to future customers. GlobalFoundries has 150 customers, including IBM and Advanced Micro Devices.
But the primary benefit is getting access to capital.
Moving forward to April 2013, from an article written by Josh Walrath
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/GLOBALFOUNDRIES-2013-and-Beyond
GF is now the second largest independent semiconductor foundry operator, after TSMC. I believe Intel has more clean room space, but they only contract out to limited partners as compared to TSMC and GF. ATIC is the biggest reason that GF is still on their feet, and that technology based financial group is betting on chip production being a major mover in the years to come. GF has also announced plans to build a future Fab in Abu Dhabi, but that has been put on hold until the company can improve its bottom line.
There have been some significant breakthroughs with the company as of late which cast a much more positive light on business. GF has been shipping 28 nm HKMG wafers to customers throughout this year, and we saw some of their first customers with that line introduce fully functional products. The first in my memory is a quad core ARM Cortex A9 SOC from Rockchip. This is a very important customer, as they are one of the largest producers of SOCs in China. Their order is hugely important for GF, and GF has been able to produce wafers in quantities good enough to attract more customers.
Fab 8 located in Luther Forest, NY is now fully operational. It is not fully ramped, but will be by the end of 2013. The first node being produced there is the 32/28 nm HKMG product, but it will start to transition quickly to 20 nm as well. Dresden (Fab 1) is also producing a mix of 45/40 nm and 32/28 nm in those two modules. Fab 1 can sustain around 80K wafer starts a month (two modules) while Fab 8 can move up to 60K wafer starts a month. GF is reporting that yields are class leading and that they are meeting all of their supply commitments at near 100% at these advanced process nodes. The company has shipped over 750,000 HKMG based wafers (both bulk and SOI) so far.
GF is part of the Common Platform Group, which was co-founded by IBM’s fabrication arm. Samsung is also a part of this group, and a few weeks back they held a symposium on where the group is going in terms of technology. Between the three fabrication partners, they probably have as much clean space as Intel. We also know that IBM has been a leader in research and development of advanced process technologies. The three talked extensively about next generation process technology and what kind of timeline they were looking at in terms of implementation.
The Common Platform Group - GF, IBM, Samsung.
Moving forward to May - October 2014, the negotiation and announced GF/IBM Deal
GlobalFoundries received $1.5 billion from IBM to accept taking over IBM's chip-manufacturing business unit, including a 200mm fab in Essex Junction, Vermont, and a 300mm fab in East Fishkill, New York. As part of the agreement, GlobalFoundries will be the sole provider of IBM's server processor chips for the next 10 years.
So, is it possible to think that AM sees POET as the vehicle that will propel GF and its Partners (IBM, Samsung and maybe Google) ahead of TSMC?
I guess when you are speculating, anything is possible. :)
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