IQE plc, a global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafer products and material solutions to the semiconductor industry, announced the commencement of a long-term strategic collaboration with GlobalFoundries® (GF®) to develop vital GaN on Si technologies for mobile and wireless infrastructure applications. GF is a global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing and the result of this collaboration will be a GaN on Si offering at GF’s Fab 9 facility in Burlington, Vt., using wafers supplied by IQE.
Due to its unique material properties, GaN is the material of choice for high-power, high frequency applications and the global deployment of 5G networks has relied heavily on the use of such GaN technology. Future 5G systems, including mmWave, will address significant increases in data across mobile and digital ecosystems, supporting further growth for GaN-enabled solutions. Working together, GF and IQE will pool their expertise and facilitate the development of crucial building blocks for current and future communications systems.
"IQE’s collaboration with GlobalFoundries marks a step change for us. It recognises the quality of our market-leading GaN products and demonstrates how IQE’s ever-closer customer relationships can bring more innovative products to market, at scale. This is a unique opportunity to leverage the performance of GaN with the cost structure of high volume silicon manufacturing. We look forward to working closely with GlobalFoundries over the coming years," commented Dr. Wayne Johnson, executive vice president of Wireless & Emerging Products at IQE.
"GlobalFoundries continues to lead with innovative and feature rich solutions for 5G. Our collaboration with IQE will enable us to deliver differentiated GaN solutions that enable next-generation connectivity and user experiences that will help enable our customers’ innovations," said Dr. Bami Bastani senior vice president and general manager, Mobile And Wireless Infrastructure at GlobalFoundries.