The new project will receive “significant financial support” from the French government, as president Macron seeks to increase foreign investments in the country. Credit: Magdalena Petrova Chipmakers STMicroelectronics (STM) and GlobalFoundries (GF) have announced plans to build a jointly operated 300mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in France. According to a statement on STM’s website, STM and GF will receive “significant financial support” from the French government to fund the project. The announcement forms part of French president Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to attract more foreign investors to the country. The new joint facility will be built nearby to STM’s existing plant in Crolles, southeastern France. The new plant is expected to be fully operational by 2026 and will produce 620,000 300mm wafers a year. The chips manufactured at the new facility will use FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator) technology, allowing them to support a broad range of technologies, including automotive, industrial, IoT and communications infrastructure applications. GlobalFoundries will receive 58% of the output, with the remaining 42% going to STMicroelectronics. In a statement announcing the joint venture, Jean-Marc Chery, CEO of STMicroelectronics said the new manufacturing facility will support the company’s $20 billion revenue ambitions. “Working with GlobalFoundries 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 digitalization and decarbonization,” he said. The state of the microchip market Since 2020, the global chip market has been facing a crisis, with suppliers no longer being able to keep up with the growing demand for semiconductors. During the pandemic, sales of digital devices soared at a time when factories were having to halt production due to lockdown orders, causing huge disruption across a number of industries. Currently, around 75% of semiconductor manufacturing occurs in China and East Asia. However, given the level of disruption the industry has faced over the last two years, there is now a major push from Western nations to increase chip production. In 2021, the European Union proposed The European Chips Act, aiming to bolster the production of semiconductors and double Europe’s market share to 20% by 2030. In the US, president Joe Biden has put forward legislation to help boost chip production in the US to help ease supply chain issues. Both Intel and Samsung have already announced they would be building new chipmaking plants, choosing sites in Ohio and Texas respectively. Related content news Cisco patches actively exploited zero-day flaw in Nexus switches The moderate-severity vulnerability has been observed being exploited in the wild by Chinese APT Velvet Ant. By Lucian Constantin Jul 02, 2024 1 min Network Switches Network Security news Nokia to buy optical networker Infinera for $2.3 billion Customers struggling with managing systems able to handle the scale and power needs of soaring generative AI and cloud operations is fueling the deal. By Evan Schuman Jul 02, 2024 4 mins Mergers and Acquisitions Networking news French antitrust charges threaten Nvidia amid AI chip market surge Enforcement of charges could significantly impact global AI markets and customers, prompting operational changes. By Prasanth Aby Thomas Jul 02, 2024 3 mins Technology Industry GPUs Cloud Computing news Lenovo adds new AI solutions, expands Neptune cooling range to enable heat reuse Lenovo’s updated liquid cooling addresses the heat generated by data centers running AI workloads, while new services help enterprises get started with AI. By Lynn Greiner Jul 02, 2024 4 mins Cooling Systems Generative AI Data Center PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe