GlobalFoundries posted second-quarter revenue of $1.786B, up 6 percent year over year, with non-IFRS gross margin at 29.9 percent, nearly five points higher than a year earlier. The communications infrastructure and data center segment was the standout, climbing 62 percent year over year and 20 percent sequentially, and the company now expects that business to grow between 50 and 60 percent for the full year, up from a forecast in the high 30 percent range.
The results strengthen the case behind the foundry’s proposed $300M award from the US Department of Commerce, announced as a letter of intent. CEO Tim Breen expects silicon photonics sales to at least double this year, and four of the five biggest optical transceiver makers are already engaged with the foundry. GlobalFoundries taped out its first SCALE-related design win in the second quarter and expects another in the third.
Bookings for silicon germanium already run past 2027, so the company is adding output in Vermont and Malta, New York, while qualifying more 300mm silicon germanium capacity in Singapore. CTO Gregg Bartlett said optical links could account for at least 70 percent of data center connections by 2030.
SCALE is the strategic centerpiece: a complete optical engine that combines a photonic integrated circuit, an electronic IC, drivers, transimpedance amplifiers, fiber attachment, bonding and testing into a known-good optical module. Bartlett noted the wafer represents only 20 to 25 percent of a finished module’s value. Near-packaged optics ramps begin in 2027, with co-packaged optics following in 2028, and the Commerce award would fund copper hybrid bonding and next-generation modulator materials.
