Japan funds two new chip plants in New York State

GlobalFoundries, a US chipmaker, said on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, that it will run two new chip factories at its site in Malta, New York. Japan will finance the project with up to 21 billion dollars. The company said the deal was made possible by the trade and investment agreement between the Trump administration and Japan.

According to the company, about 10 billion dollars will speed up the building of a first factory, which is expected to open in 2029. About another 10 billion dollars will pay for a second factory. No opening date was given for the second plant. Both factories will make chips on 300mm silicon wafers. Evertiq reports that each one could produce about 900,000 wafers per year when it runs at full capacity.

Japan provides the money, while GlobalFoundries provides the technology and runs the plants, Evertiq reports. The company expects around 27,000 construction and related jobs and more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs. These are company estimates. Partners or customers named include Renesas, Apple, Cirrus Logic, GM and Tokyo Electron.

In a separate agreement, the US government will take a stake of about 4% in GlobalFoundries, according to Evertiq. President Trump wrote on social media that the government will receive shares, as it did with Intel. A company spokesperson told AP that federal funding the company received earlier will now go to other chip projects. Evertiq says 955 million dollars will be moved to areas such as silicon photonics and advanced packaging.

Some details are still unknown, including whether the Japanese money is a loan, an investment or another form of funding.