GlobalFoundries has signed a $2 billion, five-year agreement to manufacture silicon interposers for TSMC at its Malta, New York facility — the first US-based production source for a component that has become a critical bottleneck in AI chip supply.

The company announced the deal on Thursday, October 8. Under its terms, GlobalFoundries will expand manufacturing capacity at Malta to produce the interposers for TSMC. Volume production is expected to begin ramping up in the first half of 2028.

Investors greeted the news: GlobalFoundries shares rose about 4% in premarket trading following the announcement.

What are silicon interposers, and why do they matter?

A silicon interposer sits beneath processors and memory chips inside advanced AI packages. Its job is to let those dies communicate at high speed. In practice, it is the connective tissue of multi-chip AI modules, linking the compute die to high-bandwidth memory within a single package.

That function has made interposers a strategic item. Advanced packaging has become a major constraint on AI chip production, as demand for the technology exceeds available manufacturing capacity. The shortage is not at the leading-edge logic node — it is in the packaging step that assembles AI processors and their memory into working modules.

What does the deal change for US supply chains?

The commercial significance lies in geography. The Malta facility is expected to become the first US-based source of silicon interposers used in advanced chip-packaging technologies, GlobalFoundries said.

That milestone matters for two reasons:

• Advanced packaging capacity for AI components has been concentrated in Asia, leaving US chipmakers dependent on offshore supply for a component every AI package needs.
• The agreement provides a framework for future capacity expansion as demand for advanced packaging grows, according to the company.

The structure of the deal is also notable. TSMC — the dominant producer of AI accelerators and the world's largest foundry — is contracting a US-based rival for a component of its packaging stack. GlobalFoundries, which does not compete at leading-edge logic nodes, gains a $2 billion revenue commitment and a new product line at its flagship New York fab.

Timeline and outlook

The roadmap embedded in the agreement runs through the end of the decade. The five-year term covers the capacity expansion at Malta, with volume production of interposers expected to ramp in the first half of 2028 — roughly a year and a half from the announcement.

Confirmed elements of the deal are specific: $2 billion in value, five years in duration, one facility, one customer, one component. What remains open is scale beyond the initial framework. The company framed the agreement as a base for additional capacity growth as advanced packaging demand climbs.

With AI chipmakers still competing for scarce packaging capacity, the Malta expansion gives TSMC a dedicated US interposer source from 2028 — and positions GlobalFoundries as a structural supplier in a segment where supply, not demand, remains the binding constraint.