GlobalFoundries (GF) has acquired Singapore-based Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), positioning the US chipmaker as the world's largest pure-play silicon photonics (SiPh) foundry and expanding its reach across next-generation AI datacenter infrastructure. Announced on November 17, the deal strengthens GF's manufacturing scale, technology capabilities, and R&D footprint across Asia and the US, while underscoring Singapore's growing role as a strategic semiconductor hub. The companies did not disclose financial terms.
SiPh expansion
AMF adds more than 15 years of SiPh manufacturing experience, a broad IP portfolio, and roughly 250 employees to GF's 3,800-person Singapore workforce. Its 200mm photonics line, used in long-haul optical telecom and LiDAR systems, will be expanded and scaled toward a 300mm platform as market demand increases, Reuters reported.
The deal makes GF the top pure-play photonics foundry by revenue, broadening its portfolio to include pluggable transceivers, co-packaged optics, high-performance computing, LiDAR, automotive sensing, and quantum computing. GF already manufactures photonics chips for customers such as PsiQuantum, which is developing a photonic-based quantum computer in Chicago.
Silicon photonics, which integrates optical and electronic components on a single chip, is becoming central to AI infrastructure. With copper interconnects nearing performance limits, datacenters are turning to optical links that offer faster speeds, lower latency, and higher energy efficiency. Kevin Soukup, SVP of Silicon Photonics Business at GF, noted that modern accelerators can sit idle 40% to 80% of the time waiting for data. Optical connections address both latency and power constraints, enabling far higher bandwidth at lower energy use.
GF CEO Tim Breen underscored the technology's importance: "Silicon photonics technology is essential for AI infrastructure. As data moves faster and workloads grow more complex, the ability to move information with greater speed, precision, and power efficiency is now fundamental to AI datacenters and advanced telecom networks."
Optical networking synergy
GF said AMF's strength in "scale across" optical networking—long-haul and mid-range optical transport—complements its own capabilities in "scale out" and "scale up" links inside and between AI compute clusters, The Straits Times reported. Together, they plan to deliver a decade-long roadmap spanning traditional pluggables to next-generation co-packaged optical systems anticipated to sit alongside AI accelerators.
The deal also aligns GF with the growing momentum behind optical I/O. Nvidia is working with TSMC on optical-connected networking chips, while startups including Ayar Labs, Lightmatter, and Celestial AI are developing optical compute architectures, many of which use GF as a manufacturing partner, Reuters noted.
AMF, spun off from Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in 2017, has grown into one of the world's most advanced photonics foundries. A*STAR said the acquisition enables AMF's technologies to scale globally through GF's international manufacturing footprint.
AMF CEO Jagadish CV stated that: "With complementary technology portfolios, we are proud to join forces with a trusted manufacturer with global reach, and together, look forward to advancing silicon photonics technology for a broader range of markets and customers."
Singapore photonics R&D hub
GF will also establish a Silicon Photonics Center of Excellence in Singapore, working with A*STAR on next-generation materials aimed at 400Gbps-class data transfer. The partnership builds on Singapore's long-standing photonics strategy, dating back to 2007 and supported by more than SGD1 billion (US$767 million) in national investment across photonics, advanced packaging, and semiconductor materials.
A*STAR CEO Beh Kian Teik declared that they "look forward to pushing the frontiers of silicon photonics (SiPh) with GF and delivering new economic opportunities for Singapore."
Singapore Economic Development Board managing director Jermaine Loy said GF remains a "key pillar" of the country's semiconductor ecosystem, with significant headquarters, R&D, and manufacturing operations.
For GF, the new CoE becomes its second major photonics development hub, complementing expanding operations in New York. The dual-region setup enhances supply chain resilience for customers seeking secure, multi-geography sourcing of photonics components.
A*STAR CEO Beh Kian. Credit: A*STAR
Photonics outlook for AI
With AI workloads doubling and in some cases increasing fivefold each year, photonics is becoming a core element of global compute infrastructure. GF's acquisition of AMF combines Singapore's optical networking strengths with GF's manufacturing scale, supporting solutions from long-haul optical transport to in-package optical links for GPUs and AI accelerators.
The combined business forms a vertically integrated photonics platform that serves datacenters, telecom networks, quantum computing, automotive LiDAR, robotics, medical imaging, and emerging AI-driven sensing systems.
By uniting AMF's specialized optical platforms with GF's global scale and high-volume capacity, the acquisition positions GlobalFoundries at the center of the next phase of semiconductor innovation and the race to build faster, more energy-efficient AI datacenters.
Article edited by Jack Wu
