How GlobalFoundries’ “virtual fabs” are redefining semiconductor manufacturing

Imagine a world where semiconductor manufacturing operations extend beyond the physical boundaries of the wafer fabrication plant ("fab"). A world where engineering support, data analytics and process optimization teams are seamlessly working 24/7 across time zones and locations, delivering speed and efficiency to customers.

That's the idea behind GlobalFoundries' Global Fab Engineering Services (GFES), a "virtual fab" model built to complement our manufacturing footprint across the United States, Europe and Asia. Engineering support, data analysis and process optimization don't stay in one place. They follow the work.

GFES: Where did it start?

The idea was simple: time zones are an asset if you use them right.

GFES launched in 2015 with a manufacturing hub team in Bengaluru, India, initially focused on process integration and yield analytics. It worked. A second hub opened in Penang, Malaysia in 2023, expanding into manufacturing operations and process engineering.

Manufacturing itself stayed in the fab. But the surrounding work, including analysis, troubleshooting and decision-making began to operate across locations. So did the talent pool. Engineers in India and Malaysia brought fresh perspectives and a comfort level with digital systems and distributed work that's hard to build any other way.

"You start to understand how decisions travel across sites," said Dr. Jay Shah, Director of GFES India. "A problem shows up in one location, and you see how it gets picked up and resolved somewhere else entirely. That changes how you think about the work."

What it looks like day to day

The practical reality is less dramatic than the concept sounds, which is kind of the point.

Engineers qualify tools, classify defects, monitor statistical process controls and make wafer decisions remotely. Issues that might have waited for the next shift get resolved in real time.

Wafers keep moving without unnecessary delays. As that rhythm sets in, decisions begin to happen faster. A question raised in Singapore at the end of the day has someone looking at it in India before the night is out.

"We're not just providing coverage," said Yvonne Keil, Senior Director of GFES Operations. "When something comes up, we're already solving for it, not catching up to it."

Over time, working this way builds consistency across regions. Shared standards develop, processes get automated, reinforcing a more unified way of operating across fabs while reducing variability. At the same time, it creates space to experiment. New digital manufacturing solutions can be tested, refined and then rolled out virtually across multiple sites, turning everyday operations into a continuous cycle of improvement. 

Setting a new benchmark in semiconductor manufacturing

"Virtual fab" can sound abstract but in practice it is grounded in how efficiently work gets done.

Manufacturing still happens inside fabs, wafers still move through tools yet the analysis, decisions and optimization now extends across multiple locations and time zones. 

When more of the analytical and decision-making work can happen anywhere, the scope of who participates in that work expands. Problems get solved faster, because fewer things are waiting. And the engineers doing that work, in Penang, in Bengaluru, across three continents, are building fluency in how global manufacturing actually operates, not just one corner of it.

That might be the most durable thing GFES is building: not just faster operations but a whole new understanding of how talent, time zones and technology connect to deliver impact at scale.