GlobalFoundries Moves Global Headquarters to Saratoga County

In another major step transforming Upstate New York into a high-tech center, GlobalFoundries, the Silicon Valley-based semiconductor company, announced this week that it is moving its headquarters to Saratoga County.

GlobalFoundries already employs 7,000 people across the United States, including 3,000 in Saratoga County. Many of the company’s employees and suppliers live in or are based in Warren County and the Greater Capital Region. The arrival of highly compensated corporate leaders also will benefit the entire region.

GlobalFoundries formerly was headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

CEO Tom Caulfield originally hails from New York State and told the Times Union, “As a native New Yorker, son of a New York City firefighter and manufacturer at heart, I am personally proud to be making upstate New York GlobalFoundries’ new headquarters.”

The decision comes as GlobalFoundries plans for ways to meet the U.S. demand for chips in everything from military weapons to electronics and cars.

President Biden has pushed for a $50 billion semiconductor funding bill to be included in his infrastructure bill, and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has sought to have it funded as part of the defense department funding package.

“The importance of semiconductors to our future cannot be overstated,” Caulfield told public radio station WAMC. “Our way of life, our society, the world depends on these tiny devices which power a $91 trillion world economy. And GF is one of only five companies in the world that manufactures the majority of the world’s semiconductors and the only one with a global manufacturing and the only one with a huge foundry in the U.S.”

In Malta alone, GlobalFoundries has invested more than $15 billion. The company’s goal is to expand its capacity and the Malta operation in the years to come.