GlobalFoundries Unveils 3D Chip Tech to Shrink Next-Gen 5G Devices

MALTA, N.Y. – June 23, 2026 – GlobalFoundries (GF) today announced a significant manufacturing milestone that promises to reshape the internal landscape of 5G smartphones and other wireless devices. The company has declared the production readiness of its SLATE™ wafer-to-wafer bonding technology, a form of advanced 3D chip stacking, on its industry-leading 9SW radio-frequency silicon-on-insulator (RF-SOI) platform.

This breakthrough in vertical integration, set to be manufactured at GF’s 300mm facility in Singapore, allows for the creation of more compact, power-efficient, and high-performance radio frequency (RF) components. With volume production expected to ramp up by the second half of 2027, the technology paves the way for smaller, more capable devices and strengthens GF’s strategic position as a critical supplier for the wireless industry.

A Vertical Leap for Radio Frequency Chips

At its core, GF’s innovation addresses a fundamental challenge in modern electronics: the perpetual demand for miniaturization without sacrificing performance. The SLATE™ technology enables designers to vertically stack two separate silicon wafers, bonding them into a single, three-dimensional integrated circuit. This is a departure from traditional 2D chip design, where all components are laid out on a single flat plane.

By deploying this 3D architecture on its 9SW RF-SOI platform, GF allows designers to “fold” large components, specifically field-effect transistors (FETs), across the two bonded wafers. The result is a dramatic reduction in the physical footprint of the final chip. According to the company, this technique can shrink the overall die size by up to 45%. For the crowded interior of a modern smartphone, this is a game-changer. The space saved on the RF board, which houses critical components like switches, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and antenna tuners, can be reallocated for larger batteries, more advanced sensors, or simply contribute to a sleeker, thinner device profile.

This size reduction is coupled with significant performance gains from the underlying 9SW platform. Introduced in 2023, 9SW is GF’s fourth-generation RF-SOI solution, optimized for the complex sub-8GHz and FR3 frequency ranges essential for 5G mobile and satellite communications. The platform delivers over a 20% enhancement in efficiency by lowering key electrical parameters (Ron*Coff), which translates directly to longer battery life—a crucial benefit for power-intensive 5G applications.

A Strategic Play in a High-Stakes Market

This announcement is a calculated move that reinforces GlobalFoundries' “More-than-Moore” strategy. Rather than competing in the costly race to the smallest logic nodes dominated by rivals like TSMC and Samsung, GF has cemented its leadership in specialized, feature-rich process technologies. The company already holds a commanding position in the RF-SOI market, with its technology estimated to be in over 80% of premium smartphones.

The integration of SLATE™ with its flagship 9SW platform makes GF’s offering even more compelling to the fabless companies and integrated device manufacturers that design the world’s leading RF front-end modules.

“Deploying SLATE on 9SW represents a significant step forward in RF integration, enabling our customers to design more compact and power-efficient solutions for next-generation 5G devices without compromising RF performance,” said Shankaran Janardhanan, senior vice president of GF’s RF business. “By combining our industry-leading 9SW platform with SLATE advanced packaging technology, we are unlocking new opportunities for innovation across next-generation mobile and wireless applications.”

By providing an integrated solution that combines its best-in-class RF platform with a cutting-edge 3D packaging technology, the foundry giant transforms from a component manufacturer into an indispensable system-level solutions partner.

Building the Foundation for Heterogeneous Integration

While the immediate impact of 9SW SLATE will be felt in the 5G mobile market, GF envisions this technology as a stepping stone toward a more complex and powerful future: heterogeneous integration. The roadmap for SLATE includes the ability to bond different types of specialized wafers together, creating a single, highly integrated system-in-package. This would allow a chip designer to combine an RF-SOI wafer for communications, an FDX™ FD-SOI wafer for ultra-low-power processing, and a silicon germanium (SiGe) wafer for high-frequency applications.

This capability opens up transformative possibilities across a range of industries. In satellite communications, where size, weight, power, and cost are critical constraints, the ability to build dense 3D chips that combine RF, logic, and antenna elements is revolutionary. The inherent radiation hardness of RF-SOI technology further enhances its suitability for the harsh environment of space.

For the sprawling Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, the combination of a smaller footprint and lower power consumption is paramount for deploying billions of battery-operated sensors and devices. Furthermore, the principles of 3D integration are central to overcoming performance bottlenecks in high-performance computing and data centers, particularly for next-generation AI accelerators that require massive data throughput between logic and memory.

From Design to Production: Enabling the Ecosystem

Advanced technology is only as valuable as it is accessible. Recognizing this, GlobalFoundries has cultivated a robust ecosystem to facilitate the adoption of its new 3D platform. A critical piece of this is the partnership with electronic design automation (EDA) leader Cadence. Designing complex, multi-wafer 3D circuits requires sophisticated software tools that can model and verify performance before committing to costly manufacturing.

“GF’s SLATE technology applied to its 9SW platform represents an important advancement in RF front-end integration, enabling designers to overcome traditional scaling and integration challenges,” noted Vinod Kariat, corporate vice president of the Custom IC and PCB group at Cadence. “Through Cadence’s Virtuoso Studio homogeneous integration, analysis and verification users can unlock SLATE’s 3D integration potential – giving designers the speed and confidence to deliver next-generation 5G front-end modules from concept to silicon.”

To further lower the barrier to entry, GF is providing an integrated Process Design Kit (PDK) and offering prototyping access through its GlobalShuttle™ multi-project wafer (MPW) program, which allows multiple customers to share the cost of a single manufacturing run. With the technology slated for high-volume manufacturing in its Singapore fab by late 2027, the industry has a clear runway to begin developing the products that will define the next wave of wireless innovation.