The Chip Insider®– GlobalFoundries’ GTC 2024

GlobalFoundries GTC (Global Technology Conference) is one of the best events for a refresh of this foundry's progress in essential semiconductor technologies... essential as opposed to advanced. At last year's GTC, Tom Caulfield introduced the word 'essential' as a replacement for 'mature.' Mature is an archaic holdover from the nodal merry-go-round days, where all semiconductor technology innovation was measured solely by the size of its transistors. Hence, 'mature' designates they are on old nodes, implying there is little innovation happening in the segment. The counterfactual to this is that there are easily as many if not more companies developing new products in this space than there are in advanced chip technologies. What distinguishes ‘essential’ from ‘mature’ technologies is the high level of innovation happening in both the design and process. What distinguishes ‘essential’ from ‘advanced’ technologies is that size does not matter. Instead, it’s the electrical functionality of the device…

“Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are” — George Santayana