GlobalFoundries Plans Up To 800 Layoffs

The U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer, spun off from AMD in 2009, told employees via a virtual staff meeting that it planned to cut up to 800 employees worldwide, primarily in non-manufacturing positions.

Leading semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries is preparing to lay off up to 800 employees, or about 5.3 percent of the company’s global workforce of about 15,000 people.

The layoffs are not concentrated in any one geographic area, according to VTDigger, the Vermont-based news site which broke the news about the number of layoffs. Bloomberg had first reported last month about the impending job cuts as well as a hiring freeze at the company, but no specifics were disclosed at the time.

According to VTDigger, employees at a virtual staff meeting in GlobalFountries’ Essex Junction, Vermont facility were told Thursday about the layoffs, which are slated to happen before the end of 2022.

[Related: Tech Layoffs In 2022: 23 Companies Slashing Their Workforce]

The job cuts will be primarily in non-manufacturing positions, and will include cuts at the executive level, GlobalFoundries’ CEO Tom Caulfield said during the staff meeting, VTDigger reported.

Malta, New York-based GlobalFoundries did not respond to a CRN request for further information by publication time. However, VTDigger said the coming layoffs were confirmed via a n emailed statement it received from a GlobalFoundries spokeswoman.

GlobalFoundries was founded in 2009 when AMD spun off its chip manufacturing business into a separate company. AMD three years later gave up its ownership stake in GlobalFoundries by selling it to Abu Dhabi-based technology investment firm Advanced Technology Investment Company.

Intel in 2021 considered an acquisition of GlobalFoundries, but no such acquisition happened.

GlobalFoundries earlier this month reported preliminary financial results for its third fiscal quarter 2022, which ended September 30. The company reported shipping 637,000 300mm-equivalent wafers, up five percent over the same period last year and a company record.

GlobalFoundries also reported record revenue of $2.1 billion, up 22 percent, and record net income of $336 million and adjusted net income of $368 million.

GlobalFoundries in October received $30 million in federal funding to help prepare for the development and production of next-generation GaN (gallium nitride) on silicon semiconductors at its Essex Junction, Vermont facility.