GlobalFoundries has unveiled plans for FDX Fusion, an FD-SOI platform designed for Physical AI applications, with first-generation technology expected to deliver seven nanometer class digital performance.
GF said Physical AI is moving intelligence beyond the cloud into systems and devices that can process data in real time and interact with the physical environment. The platform is intended for applications across automotive, consumer and industrial markets, including edge inference, robotics, industrial automation, autonomous systems, sensor-fusion architectures and intelligent connected devices.
The first generation of FDX Fusion is being developed as an extension of GF’s FDX FD-SOI roadmap. GF says it will be the first process technology in Europe to deliver single-digit nanometer digital performance optimized for the physical world.
Key features of FDX Fusion include advanced substrate engineering; front-end transistor innovation; back-end interconnect and integration capabilities; RF performance up to 0.5 THz ft/fmax; analog and mixed-signal features; low-leakage operation; in-memory computing capabilities; embedded non-volatile memory; and dense logic.
GF expects the platform to deliver more than 2x density improvement over first-generation FDX technology. The company said the combination of capabilities is intended to reduce system complexity, latency and power consumption.
Ed Kaste, senior vice president of GF’s CMOS business, said: “The FDX Fusion platform extends GF’s FD-SOI roadmap with innovations across the substrate, transistor and interconnect stack, delivering a platform purpose-built for power-efficient Physical AI applications.”
Customers can use GF’s design enablement ecosystem, including its MIPS and ARC portfolio with workload-driven processor IP, RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) and application-specific processor design capabilities optimized for Physical AI. GF said it is working with several customers on early development and evaluation, using application requirements to inform product design.
Demonstrator silicon is targeted for early customer evaluation in early 2027, with an initial process design kit (PDK) release planned for mid-2027. Manufacturing is planned to begin in 2028 at GF’s Dresden, Germany, facility.
