At its annual GF Technology Summit (GTS), GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF), today announced GF Connex, the industry’s most comprehensive and advanced portfolio of feature-rich radio frequency (RF) technology solutions for next generation wireless connectivity. GF Connex includes best in class design enablement and an extensive partner ecosystem for delivering breakthrough wireless-connected products. Products based on GF Connex are on the market today through GF’s collaborations with industry leaders and innovators including Broadcom, Fujikura, MediaTek, Orca Systems and Skyworks.
“Our ability to provide leadership solutions for wireless connectivity is rooted in our rich RF innovation heritage,” said Dr. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO, GF. “The GF Connex portfolio enables our customers to deliver market-leading innovation, expanding the pervasive deployment of semiconductors powering a new generation of intelligent wireless products.”
When it comes to connectivity, the best wireless wins and a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work. The GF Connex portfolio showcases purpose-built solutions based on GF’s RF silicon-on-insulator (SOI), FDXTM, silicon-germanium (SiGe) and fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) platforms fulfilling the application-specific requirements of wireless in smart mobile devices and communications infrastructure, home and industrial IoT, and automotive including:
- Smart Mobile Devices & Communications Infrastructure: GF Connex solutions sets are tailored to deliver the exacting requirements of 5G sub-6GHz (gigahertz) and mmWave applications, delivering outstanding performance, integration and area advantages, and exceptional power efficiency. This means GF customers can design cellular systems that enable smartphones to stay connected longer on a single charge, and cellular and satellite communications that deliver more robust, reliable and swift connections.
- Home and Industrial IoT: GF Connex solutions have application-specific features that deliver exceptional power efficiency, high performance edge computing and robust non-volatile memory integration. This enables GF customers to design tightly integrated, high performing, ultra-low power wireless system on chips (SoCs) that enable extremely power-efficient intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) products.
- Automotive: GF Connex mmWave solutions fulfill the highest automotive grade RADAR mission profiles, making it possible for GF customers to design innovative sensors that boast extended range, high resolution imagery at low latency and an unprecedented level of integration and power efficiency.
Customer demand for GF Connex solutions has grown 47% in the last two years, demonstrating strong market momentum. GF Connex solutions are in volume production today, with close to 100 billion chips shipped to date.
Customers strongly endorse GF Connex portfolio
“Broadcom’s Wireless Semiconductor Division supplies industry-leading performance, highly integrated RF front-end (RFFE) solutions that enable our customers to deliver the best possible 5G experience to their end users. We continuously improve product performance in an ever more complex and physically constrained environment. To achieve this, we combine the best available technologies. GF’s advances in SOI technology have been a key enabler to keep improving our product performance,” said Youngwoo Kwon, senior vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Semiconductor Division.
“mmWave is not just important for 5G today but will be a key foundation for beyond 5G and 6G networks,” said Kenji Nishide, head of the Electronics Technologies Research and Development Center at Fujikura. “5G and future networks will require highly efficient base station transmitters that also deliver exceptional receiver performance to support demanding user requirements for data rate and network coverage, all of which are enabled by the GF Connex high-performance SiGe platform.”
“Advanced connectivity technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 require more artificial intelligence (AI) processing power, energy efficiency and robust security,” said HW Kao, MediaTek corporate vice president and general manager of the manufacturing operations functional unit. “MediaTek’s collaboration with GF helps us meet those demands with all-in-one solutions that offer energy efficiency, reliability and high-performance connectivity in small form factor designs that are ideal for a wide range of IoT devices.”
“Orca Systems has developed the first fully integrated wireless system on chip (SoC) solution for direct to satellite IoT connectivity over a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network,” said John McDonough, CEO at Orca Systems. “GF’s RF leadership and significant integration and low power feature advantages were critical to bringing this innovative SoC to market.”
“Our long-standing collaboration with GF has provided Skyworks early access to best-in-class switch and low noise amplifier (LNA) technology enabling us to pioneer breakthroughs in RF front-end modules,” said Joel King, senior vice president and general manager of Mobile Solutions for Skyworks. “Skyworks is uniquely positioned to engineer and seamlessly integrate advancements to increasingly smaller, more efficient form factors, purpose-built and customized for specific end markets and applications, including next-generation mobile devices and IoT applications.”
