The Chengdu city government reportedly plans to offer Tsinghua Unigroup the opportunity to acquire GlobalFoundries' abandoned 12-inch wafer fab in Chengdu, China, in exchange for investment in the company.
The city government believes that Tsinghua Unigroup's experience in operating a wafer fab and its new ownership by Beijing Zhiguangxin Holdings, which has made major semiconductor investments, make it a good candidate for the takeover.
The wafer fab was originally planned to be built in Chongqing in 2016 under GlobalFoundries' then-CEO Sanjay Jha, but the plan was later moved to Chengdu. After several delays and GlobalFoundries' decision to halt developments of advanced processes under 7nm, the Chengdu fab shut down in February 2019, and in May 2020, it announced its business closure and laid off all employees.
Despite rumors of the takeover, it remains unclear whether Tsinghua Unigroup will acquire the factory, given the company's recent bankruptcy reorganization, the bare-bones state of the Chengdu fab, and the US' restrictions on advanced chip equipment exports to China.
Beijing Zhiguangxin Holdings currently owns 100% of Tsinghua Unigroup's stock through the "Wise Road Jian Guang Alliance."
