GlobalFoundries Partners With Marvell to Expand SiGe Technology Capacity to Meet Growing Demand for Next-Generation Optical Connectivity

TradingKey - On September 17, GlobalFoundries (GFS) and Marvell Technology (MRVL) jointly announced that the two parties will expand their multi-year partnership to increase SiGe technology capacity at GlobalFoundries' Burlington, Vermont facility to meet growing demand for next-generation optical connectivity.

GlobalFoundries stated that modern AI data centers are essentially distributed computing systems, whose performance depends not only on accelerators but also on high-speed interconnects that move data between accelerators; as system scale expands, data transmission efficiency becomes increasingly critical to overall performance. The expanded SiGe capacity is directly targeted at three areas: next-generation pluggable optical modules, NPO, and CPO.

Boosted by news of the partnership, Marvell Technology's stock price surged over 7% early in the session before narrowing its gain to around 5% to trade at $240.92; GlobalFoundries' gain also narrowed from over 9% early in the session to around 5%.

Marvell Technology stock chart, Source: TradingView

It is reported that GlobalFoundries' SiGe technology portfolio provides the high-frequency performance, signal integrity, and power efficiency required for advanced optical networking, with current technology supporting 200G per lane optical connectivity and a roadmap for higher-speed generations. GlobalFoundries stated that it has been manufacturing advanced SiGe for over a decade and continues to collaboratively integrate SiGe, silicon photonics, and advanced packaging for new architectures such as NPO and CPO.

Shankaran Janardhanan, Senior Vice President of Photonics and RF at GlobalFoundries, stated, "SiGe is an area where GlobalFoundries' decades of high-performance RF and analog leadership translate directly into breakthrough optical performance," adding that the company will continue to invest in technology and manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and globally.

Robb Johnson, Vice President of Foundry Technology at Marvell, said, "AI is fundamentally changing how data centers are built, and interconnects are increasingly critical to unlocking the performance of these systems." He noted that as the industry evolves toward high-bandwidth optical architectures such as NPO and CPO, Marvell is investing heavily to lead this transition, and the expanded partnership with GlobalFoundries will ensure it has the necessary SiGe technology and capacity.