Qualcomm to buy $7.4 bn worth of chips from GlobalFoundries

Qualcomm has agreed to buy an additional $4.2 billion worth of chips from the New York factory of GlobalFoundries, bringing its total commitment to $7.4 billion in purchases through 2028, according to a filing released Monday.
Qualcomm 5G mobile platform Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
The announcement expands on a prior $3.2 billion purchasing agreement between the two companies and will produce chips for use in 5G transceivers, Wi-Fi, automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.

GlobalFoundries Chief Executive Thomas Caulfield said in a statement that having Qualcomm as a long-term customer of its upstate New York factory would help, along with federal and state funding, to expand the company’s U.S. manufacturing footprint.

The U.S. Senate last month passed sweeping legislation to subsidise the domestic semiconductor industry, providing about $52 billion in government subsidies for semiconductor production and an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth $24 billion.

Intel and GlobalFoundries have announced expansion plans on both continents to benefit from the subsidies, with GlobalFoundries partnering with STMicroelectronics to build a $5.7 billion semiconductor factory in France.

GlobalFoundries is the world’s third-largest foundry by revenue behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics, but ranks second when stripping out Samsung’s foundry business that makes chips for other elements of the South Korean firm.

GlobalFoundries, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment, raised $2.6 billion in an initial public offering last year on the Nasdaq.