- The project will become fully operational by 2027 with a production capacity of 620,000 300-mm wafers per year and will employ nearly 1,000 workers.
- The chips produced at the proposed facility will be dedicated to FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator) technology, developed in Europe and will reduce power consumption significantly.
Chip manufacturing giants STMicroelectronics and Global Foundries have partnered to build a multi-billion advanced chip facility in Crolles, southeastern France, with the financial assistance of 2.9 billion euros ($3.10 billion) from the French government.
In the press statement, the companies said the project’s total cost, including maintenance and ancillary costs, would amount to 7.4 billion euros.
“This is a considerable and massive” investment, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told a joint news conference held at the ministry with the heads of the two companies earlier in June this year. He added that the 2.9 billion euros are part of the 5.5 billion euros package France has set aside for its investments in the microchip sector by 2030.
In line with the objectives set out in the European Chips Act and part of the “France 2030” plan, the aid measure recently received approval from the European Commission.
The project, announced in July 2022, is expected to become fully operational by 2027 with a production capacity of 620,000 300-mm wafers per year and will employ nearly 1,000 workers. GlobalFoundries will claim 58% of the production capacity, and STMicro will take the remainder.
The high-performance chips produced at the proposed facility will be dedicated to FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator) technology, developed in Europe and shown to reduce power consumption significantly.
Commenting on the development, president and CEO of STMicro, Jean-Marc Chery, said, “We will further reinforce the European and French FD-SOI ecosystem, building more capacity for our European and global customers in complex, advanced technologies for key end-markets including automotive, industrial, IoT and communication infrastructure, as they transition to digitalization and decarbonization. This new manufacturing facility will support our $20 billion+ revenue ambition.”
