US Awards GlobalFoundries $300M to Develop Advanced AI Chip Interconnects

The U.S. government will award $300 million to chipmaker GlobalFoundries to bolster research and development into next-generation technology for artificial intelligence data centers, the company announced Wednesday.

The funding is part of the CHIPS Act's research initiative, aimed at strengthening domestic semiconductor capabilities amid strategic competition with China.

Advancing Silicon Photonics

The award from the U.S. Department of Commerce will specifically target the development of silicon photonics, a technology that uses light instead of traditional electrical signals to transfer data between chips. This method allows for significantly higher bandwidth and lower power consumption, which are critical for scaling powerful AI systems.

Funding will also support advancements in co-packaged optics (CPO), which involves integrating the silicon photonics components directly alongside AI processors. This tight integration is designed to further accelerate data-transfer speeds and improve overall energy efficiency in high-performance computing environments.

Strategic Importance and Company Goals

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This investment seeks to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains for advanced chip packaging, as much of the manufacturing for silicon photonics is currently concentrated outside the country with firms like Taiwan's TSMC. The research will utilize GlobalFoundries' facilities in Malta, New York, and Burlington, Vermont.

GlobalFoundries said it is targeting several key performance milestones with the new funding, including:

• Boosting data transfer speeds to 400 gigabits per second.
• Achieving up to five times greater energy efficiency compared to current-generation technology.

"GlobalFoundries has spent more than a decade building the technology, footprint and ecosystem to lead this transition, and we have the proven manufacturing foundation to scale it — in the United States," said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries.