July 30, 2026 / SemiMedia / — GlobalFoundries has signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for an expected $300 million award supporting next-generation silicon photonics research and development.

The planned funding will come from the Department’s CHIPS Research and Development Office. It will support work on optical materials, silicon photonics wafer technologies and advanced packaging for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Because the two parties have signed an LOI, the $300 million remains an expected award subject to subsequent agreements and funding procedures.

Under a separate agreement, the Department of Commerce will receive equity representing approximately 1% ownership of GlobalFoundries as of the announcement date. The company has not disclosed the transaction value, source of the shares or expected closing schedule.

GlobalFoundries plans to use its existing capabilities in Malta, New York, and Burlington, Vermont, to develop a U.S.-based path from silicon photonics R&D to high-volume manufacturing.

The program will cover next-generation photonics wafers, novel optical materials and advanced packaging processes, including 3D hybrid bonding. These technologies are intended to enable near-packaged optics and co-packaged optics architectures.

Silicon photonics uses integrated optical devices to move data at high bandwidth with lower energy consumption per bit. The technology is becoming increasingly important as larger AI clusters require more data to move between accelerators, memory systems, switches and servers.

CPO places optical engines close to computing or networking silicon, shortening the electrical connection across the package or circuit board. This can reduce signal loss and interface power consumption in high-bandwidth data-center systems.

The work will build on GlobalFoundries’ recently introduced SCALE platform, or Silicon Photonics Co-Packaged Advanced Light Engine. The platform targets modular optical connectivity, performance of 400Gb/s and up to five times higher energy efficiency than current-generation implementations.

The performance and efficiency figures are development targets announced by GlobalFoundries. Commercial products will still require engineering validation, customer qualification and high-volume manufacturing verification.

GlobalFoundries Chief Technology Officer Gregg Bartlett said the company aims to provide an end-to-end U.S. capability extending from bare silicon wafers through manufacturing, advanced packaging and testing to the delivery of qualified optical modules.

A significant portion of the silicon photonics and advanced optical-packaging supply chain currently operates outside the United States. Foundries including TSMC in Taiwan and Tower Semiconductor in Israel have also developed capabilities in this market.

The expected $300 million award follows an earlier U.S. funding agreement with GlobalFoundries. In 2024, the Department of Commerce finalized up to $1.5 billion in direct CHIPS Act funding for expansion projects in Malta and modernization of the company’s Vermont manufacturing facility.