GlobalFoundries said Wednesday that the U.S. government will award it $300 million to advance research and development of silicon photonics technology aimed at powering more efficient AI data centers.
The funding, issued through the Department of Commerce, is part of the Trump administration’s push to direct CHIPS Act research money toward critical semiconductor technologies as the U.S. competes with China in advanced chipmaking. The administration has previously committed $150 million for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and $2 billion for quantum computing initiatives.
Silicon photonics uses light rather than electrical signals to transfer data between chips, enabling higher bandwidth and lower power consumption for AI workloads. The funding will also support development of co-packaged optics, which integrates photonics directly alongside AI processors to further improve data-transfer speed and energy efficiency. Much of that supply chain currently sits outside the U.S., dominated by manufacturers including TSMC and Tower Semiconductor.
GlobalFoundries said it is targeting data transfer speeds of 400 gigabits per second and up to five times greater energy efficiency than current technology. CEO Tim Breen said the company has spent over a decade building the manufacturing foundation to lead this shift domestically. The research will take place at GlobalFoundries’ facilities in Malta, New York, and Burlington, Vermont.
