GlobalFoundries Dresden: First European Manufacturing Process for Safety-Critical Semiconductors

This milestone demonstrates that security-critical chips for aerospace, defense, and critical infrastructure can be developed, manufactured, and delivered entirely within Europe.

As part of this partnership, Qualinx served as the first customer with a highly advanced GNSS SoC design for secure PNT (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing) applications. The QLX3xx design targets sovereign, GNSS-based PNT solutions for aerospace, defense, and critical infrastructure—such as fail-safe time and synchronization networks as well as highly integrated, power-efficient solutions at the networked edge.

• GF and Qualinx Set New Standards for GF’s State-of-the-Art Manufacturing in Europe

GF’s factory in Dresden, co-financed under the “European Chips Act,” is establishing an independent European manufacturing process, consolidating all steps of the production process—from design receipt and mask fabrication to wafer production —within the European Union. Neither sensitive design data nor physical materials leave Europe, thereby meeting the strict regulatory and security requirements of European governments, defense agencies, system integrators, and operators of critical infrastructure.

“We are demonstrating that Europe can rely on a secure, end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing process that meets the highest requirements of the aerospace and defense industries,” said Dr. Manfred Horstmann, Senior Vice President and General Manager at GlobalFoundries. “Our partnership with Qualinx marks the first operational milestone: it demonstrates that complex, security-critical ASIC designs for aerospace, the defense industry, and critical infrastructure can already be industrialized today using a fully European, trusted manufacturing process.”

“This first secure product demonstrates that a fully European manufacturing process—from mask fabrication to wafer production—is already a reality today,” said Tom Trill, CEO of Qualinx. “Together with GlobalFoundries, we have optimized our digital-RF technology on GF’s FDX using a secure end-to-end process, which ultimately led to the launch of our power Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) SoC and analog front end. This milestone underscores our ability to deliver trusted, energy-efficient solutions while maintaining full control over IP, data, and the supply chain within Europe.”

• Roadmap: Expansion of European manufacturing capacity

The tape-out, realized in collaboration with Qualinx, represents the first operational milestone on the path to a fully automated, trusted European manufacturing process that GF aims to establish in Dresden by the end of 2026. Starting in 2027, customers in the aerospace, defense, and critical infrastructure sectors will be able to utilize this automated process as part of regular foundry services, including the integration of European IP partners, mask manufacturers, and OSAT service providers to ensure a consistent, Europe-based value chain.

Numerous European system and module manufacturers from the aerospace and defense sectors, as well as operators of critical infrastructure, are already in discussions with GF to integrate future product generations into GF’s European sovereign manufacturing process. The successful launch with Qualinx serves as compelling proof of concept and reduces both technical and regulatory risks for subsequent programs.

To further strengthen its independent European manufacturing chain, GF is also collaborating with leading European providers of connectivity and cloud solutions to ensure data exchange throughout the entire semiconductor value chain. In a joint project with Deutsche Telekom, GF is investigating how production data—from design and tape-out through manufacturing, testing, and quality assurance—can be processed, transported, and stored entirely within Europe via European networks, cloud infrastructures, and data centers. The resulting processes for secure data routing, encryption, and access management for highly sensitive A&D and critical infrastructure workloads will be directly integrated into the scaling of GF’s European sovereign manufacturing model.