Counterpoint Research GlobalFoundries Wafer

GlobalFoundries Reports Solid Q2 2022 Driven by Differentiated Tech Platforms

August 30, 2022

GlobalFoundries has reported strong earnings for Q2 2022, with its revenue increasing 23% YoY to $1.99 billion. Focus on optimizing and prioritizing wafer capacity for end-market applications helped GlobalFoundries post a solid Q2 2022.

Ramping up of activities in development for the past few years, expanding manufacturing locations across the globe and long-term agreements with customers will enable GlobalFoundries to increase its market share and margins in the future.

Q2 highlights:

Net revenue was $1.99 billion, an increase of 23% YoY driven by the rise in average selling price (ASP) and wafer shipments.
ASP per wafer increased around 16% YoY driven by the ramping up of long-term customer agreements with better pricing, constructive transactional pricing environments, and continued improvement in product mix.
Wafer shipments increased 6% YoY at 630 units (300 mm equivalent in kilo units).
Adjusted gross margin stood at 28%, a 12% increase YoY driven by better fixed cost absorption, higher ASP and improved mix.
Total gross capex for the full year of 2022 will be less than $4 billion due to delays in delivery of wafer fab equipment.
In H1 2022, 65% of the total wafer shipments and 90% of design wins were single-sourced.
Single-source revenue in H1 2022 outpaced overall revenue, growing 37% YoY.
2022 and 2023 capacity has been oversubscribed.
With revenue totalling $27 billion and prepayments and access fees totalling about $3.6 billion, 36 customers were covered under long-term agreements (LTAs).
Secured approximately $6-billion incremental new LTAs with customers since the beginning of the year with all these agreements being 100% single-source business.
Shipments of 2.6 million wafers are expected for 2022.
Strong guidance of $2.035 billion-$2.065 billion (20% YoY) provided for Q3 2022.

Segment-wise details:

Smart mobile devices
- Smart mobile devices revenue grew 14% YoY. This growth was primarily driven by higher ASPs and growing silicon content in the premium-tier handset market.
- Increased adoption of the RF SOI platform, widely used in the premium-tier handset market, as a percentage of the total front-end mix further helped growth in this segment.
Home and industrial IoT
- Strong YoY growth of 72% driven by 40% wafer volume growth due to the accelerated adoption of wireless connectivity solution, 22nm FDX technology, for Wi-Fi 6 applications.
- Strong traction for IoT microcontrollers featuring embedded non-volatile memory and differentiated power and analog technologies will enable this segment to become the fastest growing market in 2022.
Automotive
- Automotive revenue grew around 34% YoY, driven by the ramp-up of new products in ADAS and infotainment.
Communications infrastructure and data center
- 50% YoY growth driven by a combination of higher shipments, higher ASPs and a better mix with the data center sub-market delivering the strongest YoY growth.
Personal computing
- The segment declined 38% YoY due to the repositioning of focus on higher nodes. However, compared to Q1 2022, there was a modest uplift in revenues following the finalization of a design with a major PC vendor.

Counterpoint Research GlobalFoundries-Revenue Trends

Source: GlobalFoundries Earnings, Counterpoint Research

Development in the quarter

STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries will advance the FD-SOI ecosystem with a new 300mm manufacturing facility in France.
- The new jointly operated high-volume manufacturing facility will support a broad range of technologies including GF’s market-leading FDX technology for automotive, industrial, IoT and communication infrastructure applications.
Announced GF Connex portfolio based on RF silicon-on-insulator (SOI), FDX, silicon-germanium (SiGe) and fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) platforms, the industry’s most comprehensive and advanced portfolio of feature-rich radio frequency (RF) technology solutions for next-generation wireless connectivity.
Announced a strategic agreement to supply innovative solutions through SiGe process technology platforms for Motorola Solutions’ radios which are widely used by public safety, critical infrastructure and enterprise organizations across the world.
Unveiled GF Labs to accelerate technology innovation in extending differentiated semiconductor technology and broadening the company’s portfolio of feature-rich and enablement solutions.
Announced an extension of LTA with Qualcomm to secure US supply through 2028. The agreement specifically extends collaboration in FinFET for 5G transceivers, Wi-Fi, automotive and IoT connectivity.
Earlier, in 2021, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies was one of GF’s first customers to secure 22nm FDX capacity at GF’s Dresden facility with an LTA. The LTA with Qualcomm represents more than $7 billion in global revenue through 2028.

GlobalFoundries’ framework for realizing future growth

Differentiated specialty semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, which find extensive applications in power management, RFFE, Wi-Fi, computing, IoT and automotive, will be the major drivers for GlobalFoundries’ growth.

Source: GlobalFoundries Capital Markets Day, Counterpoint Research

Global Foundries has repositioned its strategy in enabling and accelerating customer growth in the future with:

Platform solutions addressing secular growth markets in smart mobile devices, IoT, automotive, communication infrastructure and data centers.
Focus on innovation beyond transistor size through purpose-built technologies for:
- Optimizing digital processing and application-specific features through
  - Feature-rich CMOS technology – used for power management, high-voltage and embedded memory.
  - FinFET technology – used for high-performance and power-efficient SoC devices.
- Low power and performance with superior connectivity through
  - FDX (Fully depleted SOI) for enabling high-performance and low-power applications.
  - RF SOI (RF Silicon-on-Insulator) for low-power, low-noise, low-latency and high-frequency applications.
  - SiPh (Silicon Photonics) for higher data rates with greater power efficiency.
  - SiGe (Silicon Germanium) technologies connectivity used in power amplifiers and very high-frequency applications.
- Innovation beyond silicon through wide band gap GaN technologies for high-efficiency power conversion.
Partnerships with the broad and deep customer base through LTA with a focus on certainty, durability and profitability.
Expanding global manufacturing footprint focused on supply security, diversity and sustainability through:
- Economies of scale through modular expansion at existing sites in global footprint, with over 50% capacity increase by 2025.
- Supply chain security through dual-technology qualification.
- 25% GHG emission reduction by 2030.
Resilient business model with strong earnings growth visibility.
- 8-12% long-term revenue growth
- ~40% long-term gross margin percentage driven by mix, scale and productivity
- Disciplined investment strategy with capex at ~20% of revenue

Key takeaways

Adoption of an LTA framework will be the key to mitigating any demand-supply imbalances and enabling GlobalFoundries to increase its market share and profit.
Increased lead time and delay in delivery of equipment due to challenges faced by wafer fab equipment suppliers will prolong expansion plans to 2024.
Single-source nature of business and specialty semiconductor manufacturing capabilities will be the major drivers for GlobalFoundries’ growth.

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Ashwath Rao

Ashwath Rao has more than 20 years working experience in industry, research and academics. Ashwath had an opportunity to work with Intel Technology. Ashwath’s major coverage in Counterpoint is semiconductors and component research. Ashwath holds a Doctoral Degree, specializing in Microelectronics from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Master of Science (VLSI) from Manipal University and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics & Communication) from Mangaluru University.

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