The chip-building boom in upstate New York just got bigger. GlobalFoundries is putting $16 billion into its U.S. operations, with the centerpiece a new fab and advanced packaging line at its Malta, New York campus in Saratoga County, plus expansion at its Essex Junction, Vermont plant.
What the $16B GlobalFoundries expansion builds
The plan adds a new 358,000-square-foot manufacturing building on the existing Malta site, an advanced packaging and test center, and research lines for silicon photonics and gallium nitride power devices. GlobalFoundries expects more than 1,500 direct manufacturing jobs, with roughly 100 more at the packaging center. Over $1.5 billion in federal CHIPS Act money supports the buildout on top of the company’s own capital.
A bet on AI and reshoring
Malta is GlobalFoundries’ most advanced U.S. site, and a second fab there is a direct wager that AI, communications gear, and electrified vehicles keep pulling chip demand up. Reshoring this kind of capacity was the whole point of the CHIPS program, and few sites have absorbed as much of that money. The catch: fabs take years, and demand can shift before the tools are installed.
See the Exchange GlobalFoundries Malta Fab Expansion listing for the full scope. Construction Dive has more on the announcement.