ST Microelectronics and GlobalFoundries are planning a 300mm manufacturing facility in France to support technologies for automotive, industrial, IoT and communications infrastructure applications.

Swiss electronics firm ST Microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries have signed a memorandum of understanding to create the jointly-operated 300mm semiconductor manufacturing facility adjacent to STM’s existing 300mm facility in Crolles, France.

This facility is targeted to ramp at full capacity by 2026, with up to 620,000 300mm wafer per year production at full build-out. It will be 42% owned by STM and 58% by GF.

The facility will support several technologies, in particular FD-SoI-based technologies, and will cover multiple variants. This includes GF’s FDX technology and STM’s technology roadmap down to 18nm, which are expected to remain in high demand for automotive, IoT and mobile applications for the next few decades.

FD-SoI technology has origins in the Grenoble area. It has been part of STM technology and product roadmap in its Crolles facility since the early beginnings, and it was later enabled with differentiation and commercialised for manufacturing at GF’s Dresden facility. FD-SoI offers benefits for designers and users, including low power consumption as well as easier integration of additional features such as RF connectivity, mm-wave and security.

STM and GF will receive significant financial support from the French government for the facility, which will contribute to the objectives of the European Chips Act, including the goal of Europe reaching 20% of worldwide semiconductor production by 2030. In addition to the sizeable, multi-year investment in semiconductor manufacturing in Europe, it will support the leadership and resilience of the European technology ecosystems, from R&D (with the recently announced cooperation on R&D between STM, GF, CEA-Leti and Soitec) to large-volume manufacturing, and support European and global users with additional capacity in complex technologies for end markets including automotive, industrial, IoT and communication infrastructure.

The manufacturing facility will contribute to global digital and green transformations, delivering enabling technologies and products. It will generate additional employment at the Crolles site, with around 1000 additional staff for the new manufacturing facility, and across its ecosystem of partners, suppliers and stakeholders.

By working together, STM and GF will leverage economies of scale at the Crolles site as they accelerate semiconductor capacity with high capital efficiency.

“This new manufacturing facility will support our $20bn plus revenue ambition,” said Jean-Marc Chery, CEO of ST Microelectronic. “Working with GF will allow us to go faster, lower the risk thresholds, and reinforce the European FD-SoI ecosystem. We will have more capacity to support our European and global customers as they transition to digitalisation and decarbonisation. STM is transforming its manufacturing base. We already have a unique position in our 300mm wafer fab in Crolles, which will be further strengthened by today’s announcement. We continue to invest into our new 300mm wafer fab in Agrate near Milan, Italy, ramping up in H1 2023 with an expected full saturation by end 2025, as well as in our vertically integrated silicon carbide and gallium nitride manufacturing. Our customers are seeking broad access to 22FDX capacity for auto and industrial applications.”

The facility will include GF’s dedicated foundry capacity offering and will be managed by GF personnel onsite.

“This jointly operated, new manufacturing capacity expansion leverages STM’s Crolles existing facility infrastructure enabling GF to accelerate our growth while benefiting from economies of scale to deliver additional capacity in a highly capital efficient manner on our differentiated 22FDX platform, that has shipped more than one billion chips,” said Thomas Caulfield, CEO of GF. “With this announcement, we are expanding GF’s presence within Europe’s dynamic technology ecosystem and reinforcing our position as the leading semiconductor foundry in Europe. Our global footprint enables GF to not only meet our customers capacity needs but also provides them supply chain security. The partnership investment with the French government, along with our long-term customer agreements, creates the right economic model for GF’s investment.”

The project is subject to the execution of definitive agreements and various regulatory approvals, including from the European Commission’s DG Competition, and to the completion of the consultation with STM’s French Works Council.