Sep 28, 2017 @ 01:46 PM 

Patrick Moorhead , Contributor   

I recently attended GlobalFoundries annual GTC 2017 semiconductor conference in Santa Clara and spent some time with company executives as well as some of the company’s biggest customers. GlobalFoundries GTC 2017 was full of major announcements and major customers getting front and center about their latest products as well as future aspirations with GlobalFoundries. From my experience, this was one of the most cohesive collections of announcements that I’ve seen from GlobalFoundries ever and could mark a turning point in the company’s maturity. The event made a major impression to me and for the positive.

My past views of GlobalFoundries

I must start with my old perceptions of GlobalFoundries. Maybe you can relate. Being an ex-AMDer, I was always a bit skeptical of GlobalFoundries execution and differentiation. That was a very narrow portal to assess GlobalFoundries total business, I admit, but it seemed like there was a constant renegotiation of Advanced Micro Device’s wafer supply agreement. While AMD shared part of the blame for demand, I believe GlobalFoundries had major execution issues to deliver the frequency AMD needed at the right time. Then there was the IBM deal. Even when IBM paid GlobalFoundries to take their fabs and some technology, it looked like GlobalFoundries was just taking on yet another risky bet.

The situation has changed

The situation improved with AMD and I’ll admit, I was wrong on part of the IBM fab and technology acquisition.

GlobalFoundries delivered for Advanced Micro Devices on Ryzen desktop and it appears on Epyc, although I’m sure Epyc would appreciate some more frequency. Everything I am seeing so far in the market and hearing from AMD is all positive, even behind closed doors. GlobalFoundries bigger challenge will be with Raven Ridge, or notebook Ryzen with integrated graphics, requiring even better performance per watt than with desktop Ryzen.

The IBM acquisition appears to be a major coup in RF and maybe even in ASICs. With the IBM acquisition, GlobalFoundries became the #1 market share leader in RF, half of the driving factor in 4G and 5G, and becoming more important every day.

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