Globalfoundries has named Americo Lemos, who previously held executive positions at Qualcomm and Intel, as its China country manager on the heels of speculation about layoffs and a likely shutdown of the foundry's joint-venture wafer fab in Chengdu.

Lemos, also appointed as SVP of Asia business development, has dismissed all the negative rumors about the company's Chengdu plant. The company has been adjusting its strategies in line with its focus on differentiating offerings, said Lemos.

All the adjustments Globalfoundries has made in its strategy have been meant to create a sustainable business, Lemos noted. These changes include transforming its ASIC unit into a wholly-owned subsidiary, putting 7nm and more advanced node R&D on hold, revising its JV agreement with China's Chengdu municipality under which the fab will be equipped only for FD-SOI processes, and the planned sale of Fab 3E in Singapore.

In China, Globalfoundries has built long-term and close partnerships with companies such as Fudan Microelectronics and Rockchip, Lemos continued. Rockchip is among the foundry's customers adopting its 22nm FD-SOI (22FDX) process.

Globalfoundries has secured over US$2 billion worth of orders demanding its 22FDX technology, Lemos noted. The orders consist of about 55 customer designs for power-optimized chips across a broad range of high-growth applications such as automotive, wireless connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT).

The Chengdu plant will be Globalfoundries' second fab for the fabrication of chips built using FD-SOI process technology, Lemos indicated. The foundry makes FD-SOI chips mainly at its Dresden fab in Germany.

An announcement will be made when a target timeframe is set for when the Chengdu fab will kick off commercial production, Lemos said. Nevertheless, Globalfoundries continues to grow its FD-SOI client portfolio in China.

In addition, Globalfoundries expects to roll out its 12nm FD-SOI (12FDX) process as early as 2019, Lemos said. The more advanced 12FDX will deliver a 15% performance boost over current FinFET technologies and as much as 50% lower power consumption, and is designed for a broad range of applications from mobile computing and 5G connectivity to AI and autonomous vehicles.

Lemos jointed Globalfoundries from Qualcomm where he was SVP responsible for the data center business and served as chairman of the supervisory board of Huaxintong, a JV between Qualcomm and the Guizhou Government in China. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Lemos served as VP of platform engineering at Intel where he was also responsible for strategic deals with China semiconductor companies. Prior to Intel, Lemos had leadership positions with TI, Quanta Computer, and Skyworks.

By: DocMemory
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