GLOBALFOUNDRIES and the Chengdu municipality signed an amendment to their investment and cooperation agreement today, in line with GF's recently announced shift to its technology portfolio.

Based on market condition changes, GF's recently announced renewed focus on differentiated offerings, and discussions with potential clients, the partners have decided to bypass the original phase one investment in mainstream process technology (180/130nm). It is also agreed that the project timeline will be adapted to better align capacity to meet China-based demand for differentiated offerings including GF's 22FDX technology.

With more than $2 billion of design wins and more than 50 client designs, GF's 22FDX technology is a leading platform for power-optimized chips across a broad range of high-growth applications such as automotive, 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT). GF's Chinese clients are beginning to adopt the technology at GF's manufacturing site in Dresden, Germany, including seven customers and more than nine products in various stages of manufacturing ramp.

The partners plan to continue to build a world-class FD-SOI ecosystem, including creating local technology infrastructure and bringing in more IP vendors and EDA partners, making Chengdu a center of excellence for FDX technology and thereby enabling local market adoption and demand generation.