GlobalFoundries and Lockheed Martin have announced a partnership aimed at strengthening and securing domestic chip supply chains in the U.S., a move that will have positive implications for national security, according to both companies and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), who attended a Monday event to launch the collaboration.
The partners said the effort will allow Lockheed Martin to more quickly and affordably produce secure solutions that increase the competitiveness and national security of the U.S. A formal statement on the collaboration read, “The companies will leverage GF’s differentiated technology and trusted manufacturing practices to increase anti-fragility in microelectronics systems and supply chains. The collaboration will explore critical needs in semiconductor innovation and secure manufacturing across a range of advanced and next-generation chip technologies, including 3D heterogeneous integration for optimized chip packaging that improves performance; silicon photonics for low-power and high-speed data transport; and gallium nitride on silicon to help chips work at higher temperatures.”
“With Lockheed Martin, we’ll build access to a reliable supply of trusted, feature-rich chips with the shared goal of making mission critical defense systems that are faster. perform better, and are more secure and cost effective,” said GlobalFoundries CEO Tom Caulfield. “Lockheed’s new ASIC design capabilities and their ability to do their own designs will be complemented with GF's deep expertise to secure chip manufacturing, feature-rich innovation and differentiated technologies.”
The deal between the companies was not specifically described as one of GlobalFoundries’ long-term agreements of the like that it has made with GM and other companies in other industries, but it fits that model.
“The pandemic showed us a whole lot of things, but one of them is that we can't rely on supply chains that are overseas,” Schumer said at the event. “Now more than ever, we have to invest in building domestic supply chains of semiconductors and other critical technology, particularly when it comes to our own security, our own national defense…That's exactly what this strategic and important collaboration does.”
He added, “[The collaboration] is not just about Lockheed purchasing chips from GlobalFoundries. It's about two of the biggest companies in New York working together to spur innovation. They're already collaborating as we speak, as to how they can improve things like packaging, and to develop a chip ecosystem in upstate New York to produce chips more rapidly and affordably.”
Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet further highlighted the significance of the partnership for national security and defense, saying at Monday’s event, “Each Javelin [anti-tank weapon] system, which has been essential in the defense of Ukraine against the brutal invasion by Russia, has 250 microchips. We have to have these chips. These are not three nanometer chips. These are legacy chips and they need to be made as well. Every CH-53 [Sikorsky] Helicopter for the United States Marine Corps that we're building today has over 2000 chips. We need the most advanced technologies and superb cybersecurity, anti tamper, and other capabilities that are specialized to bolster our national defense and deter aggression. And that's what this partnership is really all about. It's bringing the best of our own defense-specific requirements and knowledge to GlobalFoundries, and its ability to produce at scale.”