Globalfoundries is offering early retirement packages to some longtime employees at its US semiconductor manufacturing plants, including East Fishkill, the company confirmed Wednesday.

After being the first to reach 22nm then subsequently 14nm FinFET, Intel's chip development pace has slowed considerably for the move to 10nm with many losing confidence in Intel's ability to maintain a chip manufacturing advantage over competitors such as TSMC, Samsung, and Globalfoundries.

The competing R&D alliance of Globalfoundries, Samsung Electronics and IBM announced a 7nm process technology, but it is taking a different approach. TSMC is using the current 193nm immersion lithography tools while the alliance's process relies on a new form of lithography, known as EUV or extreme ultra-violet, to pattern some critical layers.

As Linley Gwennap, the head of the eponymous research firm Linley Group, sees it, the "16nm" technology of TSMC and the others "is really 19nm," and the planned 7nm "will be about 13nm relative to Intel processes." Intel, he concludes, is a "a full node" ahead of the foundries, "Just as they have been for the past decade."

Total loss at Mubadala's technology companies, mainly made up of semiconductor manufacturer Globalfoundries, deepened from Dh2.9bn in the first half of 2015 to Dh4.9bn in the first half of this year.

Although volumes are still small, fully depleted silicon-on-insulator could grow rapidly in the wake of Globalfoundries' plans for a 12nm process. Whether Samsung or a new fab coming up in Shanghai will adopt FD-SOI will be a big factor, said veteran market watcher Handel Jones of International Business Strategies.

Globalfoundries CTO Gary Patton has confirmed the company will not be offering a 10nm process. They believe it will be short lived node and don't see the value proposition in it.

Globalfoundries has announced a next-generation radio-frequency (RF) silicon solution for its Silicon Germanium (SiGe) high-performance technology portfolio. The technology is optimized for customers who need improved performance solutions for automotive radar, satellite communications, 5G millimeter-wave base stations and other wireless and wireline communication network applications.

Globalfoundries has announced new advanced radio-frequency (RF) silicon solutions, further expanding the portfolio of Silicon Germanium (SiGe) power amplifier (PA) technologies designed to enable performance-optimized cellular and Wi-Fi solutions in increasingly sophisticated mobile devices and hardware.

"We believe Samsung, despite some recent delays, will still be the first mover to 10-nanometer technology," Mark. C. Newman, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "TSMC and Intel will soon follow, whereas Globalfoundries can hardly keep up. Samsung can still edge ahead of TSMC."

When AMD unveiled its new Polaris architecture, there was still some question as to where the new graphics processors would be built. Historically, AMD has built GPUs with TSMC and used Globalfoundries for its CPUs and higher-end APUs, which use integrated graphics.

Abu Dhabi's investment arm is considering a sale of all or part of chipmaker Globalfoundries as the emirate explores asset disposals amid a slump in crude oil, people familiar with the matter said.

As to whether it makes sense it all depends on how much Abu Dhabi and Mubadala would demand in payment and what assurances of collaboration with Samsung could be obtained.

Globalfoundries has affirmed that progress for the company's 14nm FinFET manufacturing is not only on track but is actually ahead of schedule and 14nm has so far managed to exceed plans for yield and defect density

In a bid to catch up and potentially gain new customers, Globalfoundries licensed 14nm LPE and 14nm LPP technologies from Samsung Electronics. However, going forward Globalfoundries hopes to develop its own manufacturing processes.

AMD has allegedly decided to delegate the responsibility of producing its hotly anticipated Zen CPU chips to TSMC on its 16nm FinFET process. This development has allegedly unfolded amidst AMD fears of Globalfoundries' slow 14nm FinFET yield and capacity progress.

Aabid Husain, who was vice president of worldwide business development and marketing at Globalfoundries based at its 200mm wafer fab campus in Singapore, has joined Cricket Semiconductor as chief marketing officer.

Globalfoundries has developed a 22nm FD-SOI platform of four processes based on a licensing deal it originally signed with STMicroelectronics back in 2012.

Globalfoundries has announced it is offering a 28nm High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) radio frequency (RF) process technology that will provide power-efficient solutions for highly integrated mobile applications and connected devices.

Microchip Technology through its Silicon Storage Technology (SST) subsidiary and Globalfoundries have announced the full qualification and availability of SST's 55nm embedded SuperFlash non-volatile memory (NVM) on Globalfoundries' 55nm Low Power Extended (LPx)/ RF enabled platform.

Samsung is already pushing out 14nm technology, using its own Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge smartphones to demonstrate its impressive new fabrication technology. But most don't know that the South Korean electronics giant has partnered with Globalfoundries, with the latter now spinning up its production of 14nm technology.

Globalfoundries and industry analyst Jim McGregor say production of a faster, smaller chip known as the 14-nanometer is on schedule at its Fab 8 factory in Malta, New York.

Globalfoundries is keen to expand its presence in China's lucrative semiconductor market and hoping its recent buyout of IBM's chipmaking business will help lead the way.

Globalfoundries has announced a partnership with Invecas, a newly formed design services provider focused on accelerating customer introduction of new products on leading-edge semiconductor process technologies.

Sources close to the situation said the deal that appears to be taking shape looks more like this: Samsung will use Globalfoundries for what is known as "flex capacity." This is a long-standing industry practice under which a chip manufacturer pays to occasionally use another company's factories when demand on their own factory is running higher than they would like, and they need a little help.

GlobalFoundries is preparing to make chips for Apple's iPhone and iPad at its Fab 8 complex in Malta, according to a source close to the company.

Dongbu HiTek is not exactly a household name in the foundry business like TSMC, Globalfoundries and Samsung. But Dongbu, a company described by some as the industry's best kept secret, has been sharpening its strategy, honing its skills, and steadily expanding capacity in South Korea under Chang-Sik Choi, who became its president and CEO a year and a half ago.

The only thing that counts against Globalfoundries is that, being a newcomer with a new US fab, it has yet to build up a long track record of consistent, successful execution. This is one reason Apple would not wish to have all its processor eggs in one foundry, as it does now with Samsung.

If Apple owned capacity at a fab, it would give the company the kind of control over both design and chip manufacturing that Intel has.

ARM chipmakers TSMC and Globalfoundries plan to release ARM processor chips capable of running at 3GHz sometime in 2014.

Globalfoundries and Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics announced that Rockchip's next-generation mobile processors are ramping to production on Globalfoundries' 28nm HKMG process technology.

Contract chipmaker Globalfoundries will spend US$4.5 billion to boost production capacity in 2013, anticipating a burst in orders for chips used in low-cost smartphones.

Samsung Electronics ranked first in terms of production of sub 28-32 nanometer chip foundry in the first quarter of the year, data showed on Monday.

David Falvo, an ex-IT worker who resides in Fulton County, accuses Globalfoundries of violating US and New York labor laws in a range of ways.

GlobalFoundries, the contract chip manufacturer whose clients include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm, plans to spend US$4.4 billion in 2013 to expand production as demand for smartphones and tablets climbs.

Increased spending in NAND and flash by Micron, LEDs by Philips and Osram, and continued investments by Globalfoundries will create new opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers in Southeast Asia.

The 55nm LPe 1V is especially suited for high-volume, battery-operated mobile consumer devices, as well as a broad range of green or energy-saving products. PDK and EDA tools are available now, along with MPW shuttle availability.

GlobalFoundries is expected to ramp up to 7nm process technology by 2017.