After more than four years as chief executive officer of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Sanjay Jha will hand over the company’s top position to Dr. Thomas Caulfield, senior vice president and general manager and a highly-respected industry veteran.
Caulfield joined GF in 2014 following a successful career with an impressive track record of results spanning engineering, management, operational leadership and global executive experience with leading technology companies including 17 years at IBM in a variety of senior leadership roles. During his tenure at GF, he successfully built and ramped the company’s new 14nm production facility in upstate New York, the most advanced foundry facility and one of the largest public-private partnerships in the United States.
Over the past 4 years, GF has established itself as the industry’s second-largest pure-play foundry company. In 2015, the company acquired IBM’s microelectronics business, bringing a team of more than 1,000 technologists and a portfolio of 16,000 patents. GF successfully leveraged these capabilities to build the New York facility and to accelerate development of 7nm. The company has also pioneered differentiated FDX technology, which provides customers with a low-power, efficient solution for the Internet of Things and expanded its leadership position in RF which enables connected intelligence. In 2017, the company announced its strategic partnership with Chengdu, China, and broke ground on a world-scale 300mm fab, which is set to begin operations next year.
“It has been an incredible four years,” said Jha. “We have transformed GF into a trusted, reliable foundry for our global customer base. The acquisition of IBM’s microelectronics business has allowed us to independently develop leading-edge technology including 7nm, as well as expand our leadership positions in differentiated businesses such as RF, ASICS and the FDX platform. Tom Caulfield is the right person to build on this record of success and strengthen GF’s position as a leading foundry partner to the semiconductor industry.”
“I am honored to be given this chance to lead GF at such an exciting time at the company and in our industry,” said Caulfield, incoming CEO of GF. “With exciting new customers coming into the market, we have the unique technology portfolio and executional track record to reset the competitive playing field in the rapidly-growing foundry segment. And we will continue to change the industry that is changing the world.”
“GF is a strategic asset for the global semiconductor industry and our shareholder. We will continue to invest to differentiate and grow the business and further consolidate the industry through partnerships, in a way that allows us to better serve our customers,” said Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, Chairman of the GF Board of Directors. “Sanjay delivered on strategic milestones which set the company on the right path and we would like to thank him for his significant contributions. Tom, with his 25-year track-record of operational excellence and delivering for customers, will take the company to the next level of success.”
Jha intends to work closely with the company’s shareholder, Mubadala Investment Company, to explore the development and build out of potential future systems businesses.