Dresden: GlobalFoundries Celebrates Topping-Out Ceremony for Plant Expansion

GlobalFoundries today celebrated the topping-out ceremony for its SPRINT expansion project in Dresden and announced “FDX Fusion,” a next-generation platform for highly integrated, energy-efficient chips, which is planned to be developed and manufactured at the site. The platform is designed for demanding applications in the field of physical AI. Together, these two milestones are driving forward one of Europe’s most significant semiconductor expansion projects and reaffirm GF’s commitment to secure, locally developed and manufactured technologies.

As part of the SPRINT expansion project, GF is investing 1.1 billion euros in expanding production capacity at its Dresden site. The project aims to increase annual production capacity to over one million 300-mm wafers by the end of 2028, making Dresden the largest “foundry” site in Europe. The additional capacity will support GF’s differentiated technologies for applications in the automotive, aerospace, industrial IoT, and defense sectors—markets that are increasingly shaped by “Physical AI.”

“Europe’s industrial base relies on chips that must be available, reliable, and manufactured close to the customers who depend on them,” said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries. “SPRINT expands this capacity in Dresden while simultaneously paving the way for customers to access the next generation of energy-efficient computing power for Physical AI. This strengthens GF’s role as a trusted partner in the industries that matter most to Europe.”

“With SPRINT, we’re not just creating additional cleanroom space. We’re investing in Germany’s future as a hub for industry and innovation, in resilient European supply chains, and in secure and reliable access to differentiated semiconductor technologies,” said Dr. Manfred Horstmann, General Manager and Senior Vice President at GlobalFoundries. “Together with our partners, we are expanding our capacity to serve our customers and their demanding markets from Dresden.”

The on-time and on-budget completion of this construction phase enables GlobalFoundries to continue the remaining work at both the existing facility and the expansion building as planned.

At the celebration, GF also announced plans to develop and manufacture “FDX Fusion,” its next-generation “Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator” technology, in Dresden. FDX Fusion was designed for demanding applications in the field of physical AI and aims to deliver digital performance in the 7-nm range, combined with analog, mixed-signal, embedded memory, and high-performance RF capabilities. The platform is intended to enable energy-efficient processing, sensing, real-time control, and secure connectivity within a single technology. GF Dresden intends to advance the development of this technology as part of the upcoming IPCEI program “Advanced Semiconductor Technologies” (AST), subject to approval by the German federal government.

GF employs approximately 3,000 people in Dresden and operates approximately 60,000 m² of cleanroom and laboratory space with an annual production capacity of up to 950,000 300-mm wafers, depending on the product mix. Since 2009, GF has invested more than 10 billion euros in Dresden, making it one of the largest industrial investment projects in Germany.

The SPRINT expansion project is supported by the European Union, the German federal government, and the German Federal State of Saxony as part of the European Chips Act and is part of comprehensive European efforts to strengthen semiconductor supply chains and industrial competitiveness. The expansion will also enable GF to offer processes and data flows that take place exclusively in Europe to customers with strict security requirements—including those in the critical infrastructure and aerospace sectors.