A report in the Financial Times has suggested
IBM - often know as 'Big Blue' - will offload its chip activity by paying Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion to take it on. The move will save the corporation billions of dollars in upgrading costs and is the culmination of months of effort on IBM's behalf - effort made difficult by the limited number of companies still involved in chip manufacturing.
Upgrading costs to enable companies to produce new generation chips has forced numerous companies out of the chip manufacturing business. GlobalFoundries is the second biggest company making chips for other companies, with TSMC in Taiwan the biggest. It is a spin-off of AMD’s manufacturing activity and merged with Chartered Semiconductor after purchasing the company.
The deal sees GlobalFoundries take over IBM’s Fishkill, New York and Vermont manufacturing plants. Itl will also see GlobalFoundries absorb 5,000 IBM staff. A 10-year supply contract has been signed between the company and IBM, the latter intending to maintain control of chip design. IBM has suggested it would invest $3 billion in chip research and design over the next years.
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