GlobalFoundries (GF) and Qualinx have demonstrated the first fully European-based, end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing flow at GF's Dresden fab. Qualinx's QLX3xx GNSS SoC, a chip for positioning, navigation and timing applications used in aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure, became the first to complete every production step within the EU, from design intake and mask services to wafer production, with no sensitive data or materials leaving European territory.
The distinction matters for a specific class of customer. Aerospace and defence programmes, critical infrastructure operators and European government contractors have procurement requirements that effectively rule out any production step crossing jurisdictions with different data-handling laws. Until now, no trusted foundry path met those criteria end-to-end inside Europe.
GF's Dresden fab, co-funded under the European Chips Act, uses FDX (fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator) process technology. To close the remaining gap in the supply chain, GF is working with Deutsche Telekom to ensure that production-related data, from design and tape-out through manufacturing, test and quality assurance, can be processed, transported and stored entirely on European networks and cloud infrastructure.
Dr. Manfred Horstmann, Senior Vice President and General Manager at GlobalFoundries, described the milestone as a proof of concept for the broader programme: “We are demonstrating that Europe can rely on a secure, end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing flow that meets the highest requirements of aerospace and defence.” On what the partnership signals for the sector, he added: “Our partnership with Qualinx marks the first operational milestone: it shows that complex, security-relevant ASIC designs for aerospace, defence, and critical infrastructure can already be industrialized today using a fully European, trusted manufacturing path.”
Tom Trill, CEO of Qualinx, said the chip validated Digital RF technology at production scale. “Together with GlobalFoundries, we’ve optimized our Digital RF technology on GF’s FDX with a secure end-to-end flow, culminating in the launch of our ultra-low-power reconfigurable GNSS SoC and Analog Front End. This milestone underscores our ability to deliver trusted, energy-efficient solutions while maintaining full control over IP, data and the supply chain within Europe.”
GF plans to automate the sovereign flow by the end of 2026 and open it to additional aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure customers as a regular foundry engagement from 2027. Several European system and module manufacturers are already in discussions about mapping upcoming product generations onto the new path. Qualinx, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Delft, develops ultra-low-power GNSS chipsets using Digital Radio Frequency technology for wearables, automotive and defence applications.
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