Through March 2026. All claims sourced with dates and
URLs.
1. AMF
(Advanced Micro Foundry) Acquisition & Integration
Acquisition announced November 17, 2025. NOT 2023 —
that was likely earlier speculation or a different event. The actual
deal closed in late 2025.
Key Facts
- Target: Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF),
Singapore-based silicon photonics foundry with 15+ years of
manufacturing expertise
- Financial terms: Not disclosed. AMF is forecast to
contribute >$75 million revenue to the combined
entity in 2026
- AMF brought 300+ customers, primarily in Asia,
spanning optical communications, quantum computing, LiDAR, and
automotive connectivity
- AMF operated on a 200mm platform at a government
research site with limited expansion capacity
- GF’s Singapore campus has large-scale 200mm and 300mm wafer
capacity, removing AMF’s bottleneck
Integration Milestones
- R&D Center of Excellence being established in
Singapore, partnering with A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and
Research)
- R&D focus: next-generation materials for 400Gbps
ultra-fast data transfer
- AMF’s technology strengths in coherent optics for
long-haul applications exceed what GF had independently — real
technology transfer value
- Pathfinding work on thin-film lithium niobate, barium
titanate, and advanced polymers for higher baud rates (from
AMF’s IP)
- Plans to scale AMF’s 200mm production to 300mm as
market demand grows
- GF now claims title of “largest pure-play silicon photonics
foundry by revenue”
Second Acquisition:
InfiniLink
- Also acquired InfiniLink (Cairo, Egypt-based
startup) specializing in advanced optical data connectivity chips
- Brings in-house SerDes and optical transceiver design expertise
- Enables GF to offer end-to-end photonics solutions
— from design IP and reference designs to process, PDKs, to packaged
modules
- Combined with AMF, GF can deliver complete optical engine modules
for both pluggable and co-packaged optics (CPO)
Sources: - GF
Press Release — AMF Acquisition (Nov 17, 2025) - GF
Blog — AMF and InfiniLink - Gazettabyte
— GF SiPho Push After AMF - TrendForce
— Largest Pure-Play SiPho Foundry - Semiconductor
Today — AMF Acquisition
GF Fotonix is GF’s monolithic 300mm silicon photonics
platform — the first in the industry to combine differentiated
photonics features with 300GHz-class RF-CMOS on a
single silicon wafer. Launched in 2022 at 100G per wavelength.
Next-Generation
Fotonix (Showcased at OFC 2025, April 1-3, San Francisco)
Bandwidth upgrade: - 200G/lambda —
doubled from the original 100G/lambda capability - Supports PAM4
signaling - Roadmap targets 400G/lambda solutions
Active component improvements: - Upgraded
modulators: micro-ring, Mach-Zehnder, and Ring Assisted Mach-Zehnder
variants - Upgraded photodiodes and transistors for monolithic
integration - Enhanced modulator bank yield for multi-lambda “slow and
wide” architectures
Passive component improvements: - V-groove pitch
reduced from 250um to 127um — 2x higher optical
beachfront density - Silicon nitride (SiN) spot-size
converters — >4x improvement in power handling capacity
PDK capabilities: - Integrated photonics + RF CMOS
or photonics-only flow options - Free-form passive component design
support - Native custom device design via industry-leading device
simulator files - Both CWDM and DWDM multiplexing component libraries -
PDK 1.0 originally available April 2022; continuously updated since
Advanced integration features: -
Through-silicon vias (TSVs) enabling 2.5D/3D stacking
of electrical ICs atop photonic ICs - Supports 3nm electronic ICs with
high-density pitch - Wafer-level and die-level detachable fiber
attach solutions (demonstrated at OFC 2025)
Manufacturing tracks: 1. Monolithic
integration — CMOS + RF + photonics on single chip 2.
Photonics-only flow — fewer mask steps, lower cycle
time, supports advanced packaging stacks (customers can source
electronic ICs from other foundries)
Design Ecosystem Partners
- Enosemi (Sept 2024): Silicon-validated
electronic-photonic design IP in GF Fotonix IP catalog. Includes 100G
PAM4 modulator drivers, TIAs, modulators, integrated control
systems
- StarIC (2024): High-speed foundational block
library for GF Fotonix 45SPCLO process. Silicon-proven MRM drivers and
TIAs targeting NRZ and PAM4 data rates exceeding 100GS/s
- Corning (Sept 2025): Glass-waveguide based
detachable fiber connector solutions for CPO, demonstrated at ECOC
2025
Sources: - GF
Blog — Next-Gen Fotonix (OFC 2025) - GF Silicon
Photonics Platform Page - Enosemi +
GF Fotonix IP Announcement (Sept 2024) - StarIC
+ GF Partnership - Corning
+ GF Collaboration (Sept 2025)
3. Fab Capacity & CHIPS Act
Funding
Clarification:
GF9 vs. Fab 8 vs. Essex Junction
- Fab 8 (Malta, New York) — GF’s flagship 300mm fab.
This is where GF Fotonix SiPho manufacturing happens and where the new
Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center is being built
- Essex Junction (Vermont) — GF’s 200mm fab, focused
on GaN, trusted/defense work. Gets some SiPho R&D but is NOT the
primary SiPho production site
Advanced
Packaging and Photonics Center (Malta, NY)
Announced January 17, 2025. First-of-its-kind
facility in the U.S.
- Investment: $575 million for the center + $186
million for R&D over 10+ years
- Federal support: Up to $75 million from CHIPS
Act
- State support: Up to $20 million from New York
State (on top of prior $550M from Green CHIPS program)
- Capabilities:
- Full turnkey SiPho advanced packaging, assembly, and testing
- Wafer-to-wafer bonding for 3D/HI chips
- Trusted Foundry accreditation for aerospace/defense
- Goal: Enable semiconductors to be manufactured,
processed, packaged, and tested entirely onshore in the
U.S.
$16 Billion U.S.
Investment Plan (June 4, 2025)
- $13B+ to expand and modernize New York and Vermont
facilities
- $3B for advanced R&D in packaging innovation,
silicon photonics, and next-gen GaN
- Partners cited: Apple, SpaceX, AMD, Qualcomm, NXP, GM
- Total wafer capacity target: >1 million wafers annually
by 2028 at Dresden facility alone
CHIPS Act Funding
(for all GF U.S. operations)
- Up to $1.587 billion in total CHIPS Act direct
funding
- Supporting $14B+ in capital investment over 10+ years across NY and
VT
- Vermont-specific: $125 million federal + ~$130M in CHIPS + state
funding for Essex Junction modernization
Vermont Fab (Essex
Junction) — SiPho Relevance
- Primarily focused on GaN on Silicon (first U.S. fab
for high-volume GaN manufacturing)
- Some SiPho R&D happens here, but production-scale SiPho is at
Malta
- $3B R&D budget covers “packaging innovation, silicon photonics,
and next-generation GaN technologies” across both sites
Sources: - GF
Press Release — Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center (Jan 17,
2025) - GF
Press Release — $16B U.S. Investment (June 4, 2025) - Governor
Hochul Announcement — Photonics Center - NIST
CHIPS — GlobalFoundries Vermont - GF
CHIPS Act Funding Announcement - Semiconductor
Today — $3B R&D for SiPho/Packaging/GaN
4. Customer & Design Wins
| Customer |
Focus Area |
| Broadcom |
Optical solutions for networking switches, CPO research |
| Cisco |
Custom SiPho for DCN/DCI applications (notable — Cisco also uses
TSMC) |
| Marvell |
TIAs and modulator drivers for optical transceivers |
| NVIDIA |
High-bandwidth, low-power optical interconnects for data
centers |
| MACOM |
Telecoms, defense, data center applications |
| Ayar Labs |
Monolithic electronic/photonic chip-to-chip optical I/O |
| Lightmatter |
Photonic compute technology |
| Ranovus |
SiPho IP cores and chiplets |
Quantum Computing Customers
| Customer |
Focus Area |
| PsiQuantum |
Manufacturing quantum chips on SOI substrates (Chicago fab) |
| Xanadu |
Quantum computing hardware |
Design Ecosystem Partners
| Partner |
Contribution |
| Ansys |
Simulation tools |
| Cadence |
EDA tools |
| Synopsys |
EDA tools (GF also acquired Synopsys’ processor IP business) |
| Enosemi |
Silicon-validated 100G PAM4 IP blocks |
| StarIC |
High-speed TIA and driver library for 45SPCLO |
| Corning |
Detachable fiber connectors for CPO |
| Flexcompute |
Photonic device design tools linked to manufacturing stack |
Post-AMF Customer Expansion
- AMF brought 300+ customers, primarily in Asia
- GF’s Kevin Soukup noted (per Gazettabyte): “We see customers
that don’t have an optics strategy coming to GlobalFoundries now” —
indicating an inflection point driven by AI/CPO demand
What I Could NOT Confirm
- No specific LiDAR customer names announced publicly
— LiDAR is mentioned as a target market but no named design wins
- No specific biosensing customer names found —
sensing is listed as an addressable market but no public
announcements
- No detailed breakdown of which customers have completed tape-outs
vs. are in design phase
Sources: - GF
Press Release — Fotonix Launch with Industry Partners (March 2022) -
Gazettabyte
— Customer Momentum Post-AMF - Quantum
Insider — PsiQuantum/Xanadu
5. Revenue Contribution
Silicon Photonics Revenue
| Period |
SiPho Revenue |
Growth |
Source |
| FY2024 |
~$100M (implied) |
— |
Implied from “doubled in 2025” |
| FY2025 |
>$200M |
~2x YoY |
Q4 2025 earnings call |
| FY2026E |
~$400M (implied) |
“nearly double again” |
Q4 2025 guidance |
| FY2028E target |
$1B run-rate |
Accelerated from prior target |
CEO Tim Breen, Q4 2025 call |
| AMF 2026 contribution |
>$75M |
Incremental to above |
AMF acquisition press release |
As Percentage of Total
Revenue
- FY2025 total revenue: $6.791 billion
- SiPho at >$200M = roughly 3% of total
revenue
- Communications infrastructure & data center
(the segment containing SiPho): 11% of FY2025 revenue, 12% of
Q4
- Q4 comms/DC segment grew 29% sequentially, 32%
YoY
- Full-year comms/DC segment grew 29% YoY (above
prior guidance of low-20s% growth)
Segment Context
- Automotive + comms/DC together = record one-third of total
revenue in 2025, up from ~27% prior year
- SiPho is described as the fastest-growing component within the
comms/DC segment
- CEO quote: “We are on a path to reach a $1 billion run-rate
revenue level for silicon photonics by 2028, a substantial acceleration
from our prior objective”
- AMF acquisition expected to be “consistent accretive growth
to our corporate gross margin targets in 2026”
Wafer Volume
- 2025: ~2.3 million 300mm-equivalent wafers shipped (10% increase
from 2024)
- Utilization: ~85% for 2025
Sources: - Motley
Fool — GFS Q4 2025 Earnings Transcript (Feb 11, 2026) - GFS
Q4 2025 Financial Results - TelecomLead
— SiPho Revenue Doubles
6. Competitive
Positioning (as of Early 2026)
The Four-Way Race
| Foundry |
Approach |
Status |
Key Differentiator |
| GlobalFoundries |
Monolithic SiPho (Fotonix) + acquisitions (AMF, InfiniLink) |
Production. >$200M revenue in 2025 |
Largest pure-play SiPho foundry. End-to-end from design to packaged
module. Dual-track (monolithic or photonics-only) |
| TSMC |
COUPE packaging technology + CoWoS integration |
Qualifying pluggables 2025, CPO mass production targeted 2026 |
Massive scale advantage. Integrating SiPho into existing CoWoS
advanced packaging. Most patent filings (50 in 2024) |
| Tower Semiconductor |
Organic capacity expansion (200mm US/Israel + 300mm Japan) |
$52M SiPho revenue in Q3 2025 (~70% YoY growth) |
Tripling capacity by mid-2026, 5x by Dec 2026. $920M total SiPho
investment. Plans to challenge GF for #1 |
| Intel |
Pioneer but declining patent output, still in R&D/demo stage for
CPO |
Patent filings falling (26 in 2024, down from 46 in 2023) |
Has deep IP history but restructuring has slowed execution. Not
competitive on production timeline |
GF’s Competitive Advantages
- Only monolithic platform combining photonics +
300GHz RF-CMOS on 300mm — competitors either use separate chips or are
behind on integration
- Broadest customer base after AMF acquisition (300+
customers from AMF alone, plus Fotonix customers)
- Global manufacturing footprint — U.S. (Malta, NY),
Singapore, Dresden — supply chain diversification matters to
customers
- End-to-end capability post-InfiniLink — from design
IP through to packaged optical engine modules
- First U.S. photonics packaging center — onshore
manufacturing, processing, packaging, and testing for
defense/aerospace
GF’s Competitive Risks
- TSMC’s entry is the big threat. TSMC brings massive
scale, CoWoS integration, and relationships with the same customers
(Broadcom, Nvidia, etc.). COUPE mass production in 2026 could shift the
market
- Tower is growing faster organically — 5x capacity
increase by end of 2026 is aggressive
- GF doesn’t manufacture the most advanced logic
nodes — customers needing 3nm EICs must still go to
TSMC/Samsung, then co-package with GF’s photonic ICs
- Intel, while weakened, has deep IP and could
re-enter aggressively if its foundry business stabilizes
Industry Context
- LightCounting called 2026 “The Year of Silicon
Photonics”
- Global SiPho chip production capacity expected to increase
>80% YoY in 2026
- CPO market forecast to grow at 37% CAGR to $20B by
2036
- Demand expected to outstrip supply through at least
2027
Sources: - TrendForce
— Intel Loses SiPho Lead to TSMC - TrendForce
— TSMC COUPE at SEMICON Taiwan - Tower Semiconductor —
CPO Foundry Technology (Nov 2025) - LightCounting
— 2026 Year of Silicon Photonics - Calcalist
— Tower Record Quarter, SiPho Growth - 36kr — Silicon
Photonics Foundry War
Timeline of Key Events
| Date |
Event |
| Mar 2022 |
GF Fotonix launched with 10+ industry partners, PDK 1.0
available |
| Sep 2024 |
Enosemi releases silicon-validated IP for Fotonix |
| 2024 |
StarIC partnership and IP library for 45SPCLO process |
| Jan 17, 2025 |
Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center announced (Malta, NY) |
| Apr 1-3, 2025 |
Next-gen Fotonix showcased at OFC 2025 (200G/lambda, TSVs, fiber
attach) |
| Jun 4, 2025 |
$16B U.S. investment plan announced |
| Sep 2025 |
Corning detachable fiber connector partnership announced; ECOC 2025
demo |
| Nov 17, 2025 |
AMF acquisition announced |
| Nov 2025 |
InfiniLink acquisition announced |
| Feb 11, 2026 |
Q4 2025 earnings: SiPho >$200M revenue, “nearly double again” in
2026 |
| Mar 2026 |
GF positions SiPho as “must-have connectivity layer” for AI data
centers |