The separation of AMD's manufacturing arm from the host company finally came to a close this week with the new entity, formerly known as The Foundry Company, officially launching as GlobalFoundries. The new company will initially be centered in Dresden, Germany but also plans to build a $4.2 billion manufacturing facility in New York to operate as a contract chip maker with AMD has a principal but not sole customer.
AMD will own 34.2 percent of GlobalFoundries while Advanced Technology Investment Company, an investment company wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, will own the rest. The new contract chip maker will be headed by former senior vice president of manufacturing operations for AMD, Doug Grose, and Hector Ruiz, formerly AMD's chief executive, as chairman of the board. The move comes as part of an ongoing "asset smart" plan intended to return the struggling chip vendor to profitability.