Intel Pursues Acquisition of GlobalFoundries from Mubadala
Intel's New CEO Pat Gelsinger Announces Entry into Foundry Business in March
If successful, it will go down as the third-largest deal between semiconductor companies in history.


Intel, having declared a resurgence as an integrated semiconductor company, is embarking on a major corporate deal. The target is GlobalFoundries, the world's fourth-largest foundry company as of the first quarter of this year. The acquisition is estimated at $30 billion (approximately 34 trillion won), and if successful, it is expected to become the third-largest deal between semiconductor companies in history, following the Nvidia-Arm acquisition and the AMD-Xilinx acquisition.

On the 15th, local time in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported that Intel is exploring the acquisition of GlobalFoundries. GlobalFoundries is currently owned by Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and its headquarters remain in the United States.

A GlobalFoundries spokesperson stated that no discussions are underway with Intel, and the media outlet determined that GlobalFoundries executives were not involved in the deal.

At his inauguration ceremony last March, Intel's new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, stated, "The foundry industry is expected to grow to at least $100 billion (approximately 114 trillion won) by 2025," and announced the 'IDM 2.0' strategy, which involves providing foundry services—previously used only for Intel's own chips—to other companies. Currently, Taiwanese companies such as TSMC and UMC hold approximately 65% of the global foundry market share, with us following closely behind at 18%.

Intel, with a market value estimated at $225 billion (approximately 256 trillion won), has pledged to invest more than $20 billion (approximately 23 trillion won) to expand its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in the United States.

GlobalFoundries was spun off from AMD in 2009. AMD remains a major client of GlobalFoundries. Even this year, the company has signed a contract worth $1.6 billion (approximately 1.8 trillion won). The media outlet analyzed that this could make Intel's acquisition difficult.

Recently, as the shortage of automotive semiconductors has become severe, impacting areas such as home semiconductors, public interest in foundries has surged. Foundry companies are expanding their fabs to handle the flood of orders. GlobalFoundries also announced last June that it would invest $4 billion (approximately 4.5 trillion won) in the construction of an additional fab in Singapore.

This deal is expected to be the largest in Intel's history. Intel agreed last October to sell its NAND business to SK Hynix for approximately $9 billion (about 10.2 trillion won). In 2017, it acquired Mobileye, an Israeli ADAS specialist, for $15.4 billion (about 17.5 trillion won), and in 2015, it acquired Altera, an FPGA specialist, for $14 billion (about 16 trillion won).