19:40 UTCNov 13, 2026

GlobalFoundries Malta Fab: $10B Groundbreaking, 900,000-Wafer Capacity

GlobalFoundries broke ground on its Malta, NY fab, expected online in 2029 and adding about 900,000 wafers a year at full output. The second fab's roughly $10B is not committed, and no node or customer was named.

Chips & Power DeskEdited by Ege Erten

Nov 13, 2026, 19:40 UTC3 min readAI-assisted

Aerial view of the GlobalFoundries Malta, New York fab campus, with cleanroom buildings and parking lots beside a wooded lakeshore — GlobalFoundries' existing Malta, New York campus, where Fab 8 stands today. The company has not released a photo of the new fab site; it broke ground there on Nov. 13.
Image: GlobalFoundries
Source · Press image from the GlobalFoundries newsroom, used for news reporting.

GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) broke ground on Nov. 13 on its new Malta, New York, fab, a 300mm plant that is the first of up to two under the U.S.-Japan initiative, with about $10 billion of initial investment. The company said the first fab is expected to come online in 2029.

When fully operational, the first fab is expected to add about 900,000 300mm wafers a year of U.S. capacity, and a second fab would add about the same, GlobalFoundries said in its release. The company put the initiative at up to $21 billion, with a further $10 billion or so for the second fab "as the project advances". New York State is adding $570 million in incentives to the first fab.

The company aims the capacity at what it calls foundational semiconductors for automotive, industrial and connected infrastructure applications. The release names no process node or customer and gives no first-wafer date. The context for demand is in our Nov. 5 story on its third-quarter results.

Malta Fab Jobs, State Incentives and Site

The two-fab initiative is expected to create about 27,000 construction and ecosystem jobs and more than 1,000 high-skilled manufacturing jobs in the Capital Region, GlobalFoundries said. GlobalFoundries' release quotes Governor Kathy Hochul putting the manufacturing jobs at more than 1,000, while WNYT reported the governor's office figure as more than 1,100. WNYT also reported that the $10 billion plant is part of a $12.3 billion multi-phase expansion at the Luther Forest Technology Campus.

The state said the new fab, called Fab 8.2, will have about 386,000 square feet of cleanroom space. The campus plan also covers upgrades to existing facilities and a new Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center, and the state's $570 million is made up of $535 million in performance-based Green CHIPS tax credits and $35 million in grants, WNYT reported. GlobalFoundries also committed $60 million in direct community investments, per the same report.

Who Finances and Owns the Malta Fab

Japan provides the investment while GlobalFoundries contributes technology and operates the plant. Engineering News-Record reported that a special-purpose vehicle owned by the U.S. and Japanese governments will finance and own the fab infrastructure and equipment, with GlobalFoundries managing construction and operations, as its finance chief Sam Franklin described at an investor presentation. ENR also reported that the company expects the first fab to be ready for equipment in 2028 and to make its first wafers in 2029.

Renesas Electronics CEO Hidetoshi Shibata said in a statement after the program was announced on Oct. 14 that the company views the New York capacity as an extension of its own production footprint, according to Construction Dive. Separately, GlobalFoundries agreed with the U.S. Department of Commerce to redirect up to $955 million of its existing CHIPS Act award, beginning in 2027 and without increasing the total award, to silicon photonics, silicon-germanium and advanced packaging in Malta and Burlington, Vermont, ENR reported.

What 900,000 Wafers a Year Measures

Fab capacity is counted in wafers, the 300mm silicon discs each cut into many chips. GlobalFoundries says its first new Malta fab will add about 900,000 of them a year when fully operational, against about 400,000 a year, 300mm equivalent, at the existing Fab 8, according to the company's Malta site page.

Bar chart of wafer capacity: about 900,000 300mm wafers a year at the first new GlobalFoundries Malta fab at full output, against 400,000 at Fab 8 — GlobalFoundries expects the first new fab to add about 900,000 wafers a year at full output; its Malta site page puts existing Fab 8 at 400,000 (300mm equivalent).
Illustration (AI-generated)

A wafer count does not say how many chips come out or what kind. GlobalFoundries has named no process node, and it aims the capacity at automotive, industrial and connected infrastructure parts. Output also starts late: Engineering News-Record reports the fab is ready for equipment in 2028 and makes first wafers in 2029, and the partners decide on the second fab before the end of 2028.

What GlobalFoundries Has Not Confirmed Yet

The second fab's roughly $10 billion is not yet committed: the release says it will support a second fab "as the project advances". ENR said it is unclear whether the CHIPS amendment redirects federal money that earlier backed the new Malta fab, and Commerce had not answered. The release gives no power, water or tool-order figures for Malta, and it names no customer for the new capacity. The state's release gave no timetable for filling the manufacturing jobs, according to FingerLakes1.