Globalfoundries Dresden
Short-Time Work Now - High Quantities Soon
"We are in the middle of a change of strategy, the FD-SOI technology meets expectations", says Dr. Thomas Morgenstern, SVP and GF of Globalfoundries Dresden in an interview with Markt&Technik.
However, the new customers could not yet compensate for the loss of business. Globalfoundries does not want to take part in the classic "More-Moore" race of the big ones in Dresden and instead will orientate itself towards many small and medium-sized customers. Typical markets here include Automotive, IoT, Industry 4.0, and Logistics, which Globalfoundries previously had less in its sights. "We have now received certification for the automotive market, of which we are particularly proud," says Morgenstern. Furthermore, the company has developed the 22 nm FD SOI process, which is now being launched in Dresden - for a large number of customers from Europe and all over the world, as Morgenstern explains.
"That's why we've also lost a large customer, several smaller new customers can't make up for the loss in quantity at the moment," he continues. That is why Globalfoundries has decided to introduce short-time working at its Dresden location. Around 3,500 people are employed here. Because negotiations with the works council are currently ongoing, the company cannot say anything about the start and duration of short-time work.
Globalfoundries started as a manufacturer of AMD CPUs in Dresden, then more processors for computers and communication devices were added. This market sector is characterized by high volumes but few players.
But on the one hand it is very cost-intensive to develop the latest process technologies with the respective smallest structure sizes, on the other hand one makes oneself dependent on few customers. That is why Globalfoundries wanted to say goodbye to this market in Dresden.
Chips manufactured using the newly developed FD-SOI technology are characterized by their low energy consumption and comparatively moderate production costs. "We are therefore on the right track from "More Moore" to a "More-than-Moore" oriented production, which is specifically geared to the needs of European industry," explains Morgenstern.
However, this is a new technology that still has the decisive breakthrough in the mass market coming up, even if the number of small and medium-sized customers is currently increasing. Overall, it is not yet sufficient to compensate for the gap left by customers in the computing and communications sectors. "Not yet," says Morgenstern, because he is certain that the bottom can be passed quickly, because the number of new customers continues to grow rapidly and this should also be reflected in rapidly increasing numbers in the foreseeable future.
Overall, Dr. Thomas Caufield, CEO of Globalfoundries since March 2018, had ordered the company to implement a cost-cutting program that will reduce its workforce by a total of 5 percent worldwide.
