GlobalFoundries’ Singapore manufacturing operations are reportedly running at more than 90% capacity utilization as the foundry expands its silicon photonics footprint to meet rising demand from artificial intelligence, data-center networking and optical connectivity applications. At the same time, the pace of expansion is being challenged by semiconductor equipment lead times, highlighting how AI-related bottlenecks are spreading beyond leading-edge logic into photonics and specialty semiconductor manufacturing.

According to a September 30, 2026 DIGITIMES report, GlobalFoundries (GF) is expanding its Singapore footprint following the acquisition of local silicon photonics foundry Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF). The report says GF is integrating 200mm and 300mm silicon photonics technologies while transferring existing U.S. 300mm silicon photonics capabilities to Singapore.

DIGITIMES also reports that GF’s Singapore capacity utilization has moved above 90% and that equipment lead times are becoming a constraint on the company’s silicon photonics capacity expansion. The utilization figure has not, at the time of writing, been separately disclosed by GlobalFoundries in a public press release and should therefore be viewed as a figure reported by DIGITIMES.

GlobalFoundries Singapore at a Glance

AMF Acquisition Gives GF a Larger Silicon Photonics Footprint

GlobalFoundries acquired Singapore-based Advanced Micro Foundry in November 2025. The transaction brought AMF’s manufacturing assets, intellectual property and engineering talent into GF and substantially expanded the company’s silicon photonics capabilities in Asia.

At the time of the acquisition, GF said the combination established it as the world’s largest pure-play silicon photonics foundry by revenue. AMF’s existing platform targets applications including long-haul optical communications, computing, LiDAR and sensing.

Importantly, GF also outlined a roadmap to scale the Singapore photonics operation from AMF’s established 200mm platform toward 300mm manufacturing as market requirements increase. Moving more silicon photonics production onto 300mm wafers can provide greater scale and tighter integration with the manufacturing infrastructure used for other advanced semiconductor technologies.

AI Data Centers Are Increasing Demand for Optical Connectivity

The expansion comes as AI infrastructure changes the semiconductor industry’s connectivity requirements. Large AI systems connect thousands of accelerators, memory devices and switches, making the movement of data between processors increasingly important to system performance and power consumption.

Conventional electrical interconnects face growing challenges as bandwidth and distance increase. Silicon photonics enables data to be transmitted optically, offering a path to higher bandwidth and improved energy efficiency for data-center links.

This is one reason technologies such as pluggable optical transceivers, near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO) are becoming increasingly important to semiconductor manufacturers, networking companies and AI infrastructure providers.

GF and Marvell Expand Optical Connectivity Capacity

GlobalFoundries’ photonics expansion is supported by new customer commitments elsewhere in its manufacturing network. On September 17, 2026, GF and Marvell announced an expanded multi-year agreement to increase capacity for GF’s high-performance silicon-germanium technology.

The additional capacity will support optical connectivity for AI infrastructure, including pluggable optical transceivers, near-packaged optics and co-packaged optics. GF said its current SiGe technology supports 200G-per-lane optical connectivity and that its roadmap is designed for higher-speed generations as AI and cloud data-center bandwidth requirements increase.

Although this particular capacity expansion is located at GF’s Burlington, Vermont facility, it demonstrates that photonics-related demand is increasing across multiple parts of GF’s global manufacturing footprint.

SMART Photonics Partnership Broadens the Technology Stack

Another significant development arrived on September 21, when SMART Photonics and GlobalFoundries announced an open-access foundry service combining GF’s silicon photonics platform with SMART Photonics’ indium phosphide (InP) photonic integrated circuit technology.

Indium phosphide is particularly valuable for active optical functions such as lasers and modulators, while silicon photonics offers scale and compatibility with semiconductor manufacturing. Combining the two platforms could allow customers to build more highly integrated optical products for AI data centers, telecommunications, LiDAR and other applications.

The partnership is another indication that the future photonics supply chain will increasingly depend on combining multiple semiconductor materials, foundry processes and packaging technologies rather than relying on a single monolithic process.

Equipment Lead Times Become the Next Constraint

The most notable aspect of the latest Singapore report is that customer demand may no longer be the only factor determining how quickly silicon photonics capacity can grow.

If semiconductor equipment lead times remain extended, GF must coordinate tool deliveries, installation, qualification and process transfers before meaningful new capacity can become available. Photonics production also requires specialized process control and metrology, making capacity expansion more complicated than simply adding cleanroom floor space.

The situation illustrates a broader pattern across the AI semiconductor supply chain. As investment moves from processors into networking, optics, power management and advanced packaging, manufacturing constraints can emerge in technologies that previously received far less attention than leading-edge logic.

Singapore Is Becoming More Strategic to GF

GlobalFoundries lists approximately 1.5 million wafers of annual capacity on a 300mm-equivalent basis at its Singapore operations. The site manufactures Power BCD, RF-SOI, SiGe, silicon photonics and feature-rich CMOS technologies.

Singapore is also receiving other new GF programs. In September 2026, GlobalFoundries and Monolithic Power Systems announced a manufacturing partnership that will deploy MPS’s proprietary process technology at GF’s advanced 300mm Singapore fab, with production planned to begin in early 2027.

Separately, GF has qualified its SLATE wafer-to-wafer bonding technology on the 9SW RF-SOI platform manufactured in Singapore. Volume production is expected to ramp in the second half of 2027. While SLATE currently targets advanced RF applications, it demonstrates the increasing importance of 3D integration and advanced packaging capabilities within GF’s Singapore manufacturing base.

Together, these programs show that Singapore is developing into one of GF’s most diversified manufacturing locations, spanning power management, RF, connectivity, silicon photonics and advanced integration.

Why the 90% Utilization Figure Matters

A utilization level above 90% is significant because foundries operating close to full capacity have less flexibility to absorb sudden increases in customer demand. High utilization can strengthen pricing and improve manufacturing economics, but it can also increase the importance of precise capacity planning.

It is important, however, not to interpret the figure as meaning every GF Singapore process or production line is running at exactly the same utilization. Foundry utilization varies by technology, wafer size, customer mix and tool set. The DIGITIMES number should therefore be viewed as an indicator of overall tightness rather than a measure of every individual Singapore process.

What to Watch Next

Three developments will be particularly important to watch: the speed of GF’s transition toward larger-scale 300mm silicon photonics manufacturing in Singapore, the delivery and qualification of the equipment needed for expansion, and the rate at which AI data-center customers move from conventional pluggable optics toward more tightly integrated NPO and CPO architectures.

If AI networking demand continues to rise rapidly, silicon photonics capacity could become an increasingly strategic part of the semiconductor foundry market. GF’s combination of AMF’s Singapore technology, its existing U.S. photonics manufacturing and its growing ecosystem of optical connectivity partners puts the company in a strong position to participate in that expansion.