According to Taiwan media's DIGITIMES report, GlobalFoundries (GF) officially announced the layoff plan on the 11th, with layoffs of approximately 5%, mainly in Europe and the United States, and in mainland China and Taiwan. influences.
It is reported that the grid core staff streamlining plan will be launched in the next few weeks. The purpose is to increase the global cost structure and reduce the amount of redundant personnel accumulated in previous mergers and acquisitions. It is estimated that 900 people will be affected by layoffs.
In March of this year, Gage core made major personnel adjustments. Mr. Sanjay Jha ended his four-year CEO tenure, handing over the company’s top job to the senior vice president of the original grid core, Dr. Tom Caulfield, general manager, and Dr. Tom Caulfield. He was the vice president of IBM's 300mm semiconductor business and was responsible for the most advanced wafer fabrication in East Fishkill, New York.
Gerhard stressed that this layoff will not affect the production progress of the New York-based Malta fab. The 7nm process will be put into operation in 2019 as planned.
As early as 2017, there was rumors that 'Gridcore 7nm did not have production capacity and AMD orders returned to TSMC'. The grid core coaching change is to advance the development of advanced manufacturing processes, and this action has not been able to retain old customers AMD, AMD first The batch 7nm process GPU was transferred to a single product. Today, at the Computex 2018 press conference, AMD introduced a 7nm VEGA GPU that was built by TSMC.
However, according to industry analysts, AMD CPU orders may not be allocated to TSMC, because TSMC lacks the experience of foundry high-performance CPU. AMD is likely to give 7nm Zen 2 processor orders to the grid core.
In recent years, the performance of Gexin in the market has shown a decline. It is reported that an important reason for the continuous loss of Gexin for many years comes from the R&D input of advanced processes. The Gexin FinFET technology skips 10nm and directly enters the 7nm market, that is, from 14LPP to 12LPP to 7LP. According to the company's roadmap, the 7nm process is the sprint focus of the grid, but AMD's first 7nm process GPU was transferred to a single product.
Although Gexin is the second largest wafer fab in the world, according to industry sources, there is a big gap between GridCore and TSMC in the advancement and profitability of advanced processes. According to the survey company TrendForce data, the global foundry market occupied in 2017. In terms of rate, TSMC was as high as 55.9% and lattice core was 9.4%.
On February 10, 2017, Gexin announced the official launch of the construction of a 12-inch wafer manufacturing line at the Chengdu Manufacturing Base. The wafer manufacturing facility is a joint venture between Gexin and the local government in Chengdu. It will be constructed in two phases. The first phase will be 12 inches mature. Processes (180nm and 130nm CMOS logic and analog hybrids, etc.) are planned to be put into production in 2018. The second phase will be the 22nm FD-SOI process, which is scheduled to be put into production in 2019. The total investment in two phases including supporting measures is about For 10 billion US dollars.
Gageon has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Chengdu fabs in its corporate strategy. Bai Nong, general manager of Gragon China, said that building 22FDX plants in Chengdu is a strategic decision for Gragon, and that most of the products produced by Chengdu plants will be produced. Selling to local Chinese customers. The Chinese market has huge room for development. In the next 5 to 10 years, the Chinese market needs the most low-power and low-cost semiconductor chips for mobile communications, Internet of things, and automotive applications. Is the 22FDX FD-SOI process can provide.
Recently, it was reported that Gexinxin was interested in seeking a strategic partner to share or take over the Chengdu factory. This has affected the cooperation between Gexin and the Chengdu government.
With this layoff statement, Gexin stressed that China is one of the most important markets in the world. The layoff plan will not have any impact or change on the Chengdu joint venture and the Chinese strategy. The construction of the Chengdu wafer factory is proceeding as planned. At the end of 2018, it will be completed on schedule. The intention of the company's intention to seek strategic partnerships to share or take over the Chengdu factory is purely a market rumor.