Foundry on Sale

 

It has been found that Mubadala Technology, a state-run company of the United Arab Emirates, is seeking to sell its GlobalFoundries semiconductor plants located in multiple countries such as the United States, Germany and Singapore. GlobalFoundries is the third-largest semiconductor foundry in the world and the total cost for acquisition is estimated at approximately US$20 billion.

Experts predict that the factories will be sold to multiple entities as few companies in the semiconductor industry are capable of procuring such a large amount of money at once. It is said that candidates include Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Hua Capital Management.

GlobalFoundries has failed to show a remarkable performance in the industry for years. In addition, it recently fell to the third place in terms of market share, overtaken by UMC.

In the past, Samsung Electronics shared its 14-nano FinFET technology and set up a co-production system with GlobalFoundries in North America in order to access a larger number of clients. If Samsung Electronics acquires GlobalFoundries, the former can gain major clients that includes AMD, Rockchip and Qualcomm along with an inside track with respect to TSMC in concluding contracts with Apple. Industry insiders are pointing out that the facilities located in Malta, New York can be more attractive to Samsung than those in Germany and Singapore because of technology sharing in past.

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