GlobalFoundries announces plans to go public

It’s another big move for Malta’s GlobalFoundries. The Abu Dhabi-owned semiconductor company, one of the largest in the world, is going public. They’re raising capital ahead of a major expansion announced earlier this year.

The third-largest chipmaker in the world announced in April it was moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Saratoga County.

Fab 8 in Malta is the company’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility. The IPO comes amid a worldwide semiconductor shortage.

At the time, the company claimed to have invested more than $15 billion in the fab over the last decade, and announced another $500 million investment in the coming year.

Then in July, company leaders doubled down, announcing a $1 billion expansion and the creation of 1,000 more jobs at the site to ramp up output of its semiconductors.

In documents filed for its initial public offering, GlobalFoundries indicated:

"The semiconductor industry is capital-intensive and, if we are unable to invest the necessary capital to operate and grow our business, we may not remain competitive."

Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, said all that new capital will have a huge impact on the company, and the county.

"We saw definitely over the last 11 years that they’ve been here, a significant economic boost as a result of not just the investments they made, but the investments that their people made, buying, houses, cars furniture," said Shimkus. "All of that has helped us out immensely, and anytime you can grow that, it means good things for Saratoga County."

Learn about other companies already considering expansion because of the growth at GlobalFoundries by watching the video of Jerry Gretzinger’s story.