GlobalFoundries has been spending money in Silicon Valley that could pay dividends in Saratoga County someday.

The company, which employs 3,100 people at its Fab 8 computer chip factory in Malta, has become an active player in California's investment scene, along with other tech heavyweights like Intel and Cisco.

One of its multi-million-dollar investments is in a company called Aquantia Corp. in San Jose that  is planning a $94 million initial public offering in the near future.

"Globalfoundries, like many technology companies, makes strategic investments to help drive innovation in the semiconductor industry," GlobalFoundries spokesman Steve Grasso said Monday, although he declined to speak specifically about Aquantia or its IPO.

Aquantia makes switches used in high-speed data networks that are becoming more sophisticated as data centers handle more and more traffic.

The IPO would be small for Wall Street's standards: The social media app-maker Snap held a $3.4 billion IPO earlier this year. But it shows that GlobalFoundries, created just eight years ago as a spin-off from Advanced Micro Devices, is becoming increasingly influential as a behind-the-scenes player in Silicon Valley.

The model is common in the global semiconductor industry, where research and development costs are high and the number of full-scale manufacturers is small.

Because of that dynamic, manufacturers like GlobalFoundries and Intel will invest in their customers and suppliers to ensure that they have a solid base of both in the future.

By: DocMemory
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