GlobalFoundries and Marvell Technology, announced an expanded multi-year agreement to increase capacity for GlobalFoundries’ silicon germanium (SiGe) technology at its Burlington, Vermont, facility. The agreement supports demand for next-generation optical connectivity.
Modern AI data centers operate as distributed compute systems in which performance depends on high-speed interconnects that move data between accelerators. As AI systems scale, efficient data movement is becoming increasingly critical. The expanded collaboration will increase capacity for high-performance SiGe technology used in next-generation pluggable optical transceivers, Near-Packaged Optics (NPO) and Co-packaged Optics (CPO).
The agreement builds on existing production and is expected to add capacity to support Marvell’s requirements.
GlobalFoundries’ SiGe technology portfolio provides high-frequency performance, signal integrity and power efficiency for advanced optical networking applications. Its current technology supports 200G-per-lane optical connectivity, with a roadmap for higher-speed generations as AI and cloud data center bandwidth requirements grow. GlobalFoundries has manufactured advanced SiGe technology for over a decade and continues to co-integrate SiGe, silicon photonics and advanced packaging for optical connectivity architectures including NPO and CPO.
Robb Johnson, Vice President of Foundry Technology at Marvell, said: “AI is fundamentally changing the way data centers are built, and connectivity is becoming increasingly critical to unlocking the performance of these systems. As the industry moves toward higher-bandwidth optical architectures, including NPO and CPO, Marvell is investing aggressively to lead this transition. Our expanded collaboration with GF will help ensure we have the SiGe technology and manufacturing capacity to support the significant growth we see ahead.”
Shankaran Janardhanan, senior vice president of Photonics & RF businesses at GlobalFoundries, said: “SiGe is where GF’s decades of high-performance radio frequency and analog leadership translate directly into breakthrough optical performance. This agreement reinforces our long-standing relationship with Marvell and reflects the critical role SiGe technology plays in enabling high-speed optical networking for AI infrastructure. We will continue investing in our technology roadmap and manufacturing capabilities both in the U.S. and around the world to support our customers’ future growth.”
The agreement builds on more than a decade of collaboration between GlobalFoundries and Marvell and reflects the role of optical networking technologies in enabling AI and cloud infrastructure at scale.
