GlobalFoundries (GF) has signed a letter of intent with the US Department of Commerce for a proposed US$300 million CHIPS Research and Development award to accelerate next-generation silicon photonics, strengthening domestic innovation for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.
The funding is expected to support research into advanced optical materials, silicon photonics wafer technologies and packaging innovations, including 3D hybrid bonding. The programme aims to speed development of near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO), technologies designed to overcome data transfer bottlenecks as AI workloads continue to grow.
The initiative builds on GF’s recently introduced SCALE silicon photonics platform, which targets 400Gb/s performance with up to five times greater energy efficiency than current-generation solutions. Research will be carried out at the company’s facilities in Malta, New York and Burlington, Vermont, supporting a US-based pathway to large-scale silicon photonics manufacturing.
As part of a separate agreement, the Department of Commerce will receive equity representing approximately one percent ownership in GlobalFoundries, allowing the American public to share in the company’s future growth.
GlobalFoundries CEO Tim Breen said silicon photonics had become essential for modern AI infrastructure, marking the industry’s transition from traditional copper interconnects to optical technologies capable of delivering higher bandwidth and improved power efficiency.
The announcement received support from major technology companies including AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Corning, Lumentum, Marvell, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Qualcomm, all highlighting silicon photonics as a critical technology for scaling next-generation AI systems, advanced networking and energy-efficient data centres worldwide.
