{"id":282398,"date":"2026-10-20T23:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hwcooling.net\/?p=282398\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T03:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T01:07:51","slug":"globalfoundries-does-have-a-7nm-process-after-all-it-will-run-in-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hwcooling.net\/en\/globalfoundries-does-have-a-7nm-process-after-all-it-will-run-in-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"GlobalFoundries Will Have a 7nm Process After All. In the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chip foundry GlobalFoundries, successor company to AMD’s fabs, withdrew from the race for advanced manufacturing processes in 2018 by opting to not put its in-house 7nm EUV process into production. A pity, since this was just a few years before the later chip demand boom. The company may nevertheless offer a more modern process after all. It is now promising a new manufacturing technology that is meant to enable “7nm-class” chips.<\/p>\n

GlobalFoundries inherited a line of manufacturing processes using special SOI (Silicon on Insulator) wafers from its AMD origins. Given that most manufacturers avoid SOI, AMD itself eventually switched to standard (“bulk”) wafers, and GlobalFoundries tried to do the same. However, after the 7nm effort was abandoned, SOI processes, or rather their FD-SOI (Fully Depleted SOI) variants, became a niche and specialty with which GlobalFoundries seeks to attract customers. It is no longer aiming for a process for high-performance processors and GPUs, however, but for specialized applications, including analog and radio-frequency ones.<\/p>\n

GlobalFoundries currently has the 22FDX\u00a022nm FD-SOI process\u00a0in regular production, introduced in 2015, but it has now announced a new generation called FDX Fusion<\/strong>, which is to reach “7nm-class” parameters. There may be a certain amount of license in this designation, so we would not assume that its performance or transistor density will necessarily match the best 7nm technologies from TSMC or Intel. Hopefully, though, it should have significantly better parameters than previous SOI technologies and thus be attractive for designs that target older 14nm, 10nm, and perhaps in some cases 7nm lines today.<\/p>\n

Information has surfaced that the FDX Fusion process, with its supposed “7nm class,” is reportedly to use planar transistors rather than 3D FinFET transistors, although the GlobalFoundries press release does not mention this. It is said to be a “completely new generation” of FD-SOI technology with new substrate-handling technologies, new metal layers, and “transistor innovations,” which does not necessarily mean a new structure or FinFET. The interview GlobalFoundries gave to EE Times does indeed mention that the substrate of FD-SOI wafers replaces the need to use FinFET transistors, so the technology could truly be built around simpler planar transistors. It also does without EUV machines. Manufacturing chips on the FDX Fusion process is expected to require around 50 masks, fewer than on advanced EUV processes.<\/p>\n

FDX Fusion is to have 2\u00d7 better transistor density than the 22nm 22FDX process. The improvement in the performance of digital logic circuits is said to reflect the “7nm class” characterization and transistors are reportedly capable of switching at speeds of up to 0.5 THz in RF applications (wireless communication, radars). The process is to be ready for analog and mixed-signal applications, thanks to FD-SOI it should also allow chip operation with low leakage currents, and it also supports the integration of non-volatile memory. GlobalFoundries will also make available various IP blocks for the process, such as RISC-V, MIPS, or ARC cores (not Arm; ARC is an unrelated older architecture of embedded cores originally from Synopsys, which sold this technology to GlobalFoundries this year as part of a refocusing on RISC-V).<\/p>\n

In its press release, GlobalFoundries states that the technology could be useful for “physical AI” applications, but the main users will probably once again be more traditional sectors such as automotive chips and analog circuits for radio technologies (which may also include automotive radars). Interest has apparently been expressed by Bosch, BMW, Infineon, NXP, CEA-Leti, Siemens, and also Tesla. Products such as mobile SoCs, GPUs, or processors, would face the problem in that the chips will require a different physical design and rework of blocks that were designed for bulk processes, so there will be a barrier here for new clients who have not previously designed their chips for a SOI process.<\/p>\n

\"Tov\u00e1rna<\/a>
GlobalFoundries fab in Dresden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Manufacturing in Germany<\/h3>\n

What is interesting about this news for us in Central Europe is that EU will be the center of manufacturing on this new FD-SOI process, even though GlobalFoundries is a multinational company. Like other FD-SOI processes, production will take place in the former AMD factories in Dresden. Production capacity in Dresden is also to be expanded, reportedly to more than a million 300mm wafers per year in 2028. The current capacity is 950,000 wafers per year, and the factory has over 3,000 employees.<\/p>\n

GlobalFoundries wants to start production as early as 2028, but we will see whether it again runs into delays. Clients will be able to evaluate the technology in early 2027, and the so-called PDK for chip design will be released in mid-2027.<\/p>\n

What Happened to the 12nm Predecessor?<\/h2>\n

Let us hope that this technology actually makes it into practice. GlobalFoundries also had a 12nm process (12FDX) in preparation, but it apparently has still not been “productized,” and it is unclear whether that is still planned. Only a few years ago, however, the technology was still on the company’s roadmap\u2014it is possible that its launch stalled, for example, on a lack of customers for it, since the company put this technology on its roadmap back in 2016, and development should have been finished by now. We will see whether it isn’t the case that perhaps it’s actually this forgotten 12FDX technology that transformed into what is now being announced under the FDX Fusion name\u2014note the conspicuously missing number in the name of the new process. That might be a hint that a certain degree of rebranding was involved.<\/p>\n

Source: GlobalFoundries<\/a>, <\/em>EE Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

English translation and edit by Jozef Dud\u00e1\u0161<\/em><\/p>\n