GlobalFoundries plans to manufacture silicon interposers for TSMC’s CoWoS advanced-packaging system at its Malta, New York, facility. The agreement, announced October 8, has an initial five-year term, and GlobalFoundries expects volume production to begin ramping in the first half of 2028.
What GlobalFoundries will make for TSMC
The agreement covers silicon interposers, a component used in CoWoS packages. It does not shift processor-die manufacturing to GlobalFoundries. EET Asia describes the company’s role as manufacturing the interposer, while TSMC retains responsibility for its broader CoWoS offering and finished-package integration.
GlobalFoundries says the planned supply is expected to establish the first U.S.-based source of silicon interposers for advanced-packaging technologies. The company also says the agreement includes capabilities associated with embedded deep-trench capacitors, and provides a framework for expanding capacity as customer demand grows.
How the interposer fits into CoWoS
A silicon interposer provides dense electrical connections between computing dies and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). In CoWoS-S, it is a central part of the package’s interconnection architecture. That makes interposer manufacturing one component of the packaging supply chain, distinct from producing the processor dies themselves.
When the planned production could matter
GlobalFoundries expects volume production to begin ramping in the first half of 2028. The agreement sets a future production schedule; it does not describe current output from the planned capacity.
EET Asia reported that, on TSMC’s October 15 earnings call, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei discussed the agreement as part of TSMC’s broader back-end supply strategy amid a capacity shortage. GlobalFoundries executive Ed Kaste said advanced packaging is becoming more important to the performance, power efficiency, and scale of next-generation AI systems, and described the company’s intended supply as secure and scalable. These statements give the companies’ rationale for the plan; the scheduled production ramp remains the concrete milestone.
