{"id":103,"date":"2025-04-16T04:56:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greatlakessemiconductor.com\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:15:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:15:56","slug":"our-plan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/greatlakessemiconductor.com\/index.php\/our-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our Plan<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Facilities<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cChip Forge\u2122\u201d<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Phase 1a \u2013 Pocket Fab (\u201cChipForge\u2122<\/em>\u201d<\/u><\/strong>)<\/u><\/strong>. In collaboration with our multiple Japanese partners, GLS will establish North America\u2019s first fully functional prototype\/small lot production facility for essential node (18nm to 28nm) devices. Key features of the Pocket Fab are:<\/p>

  1. Up to 100,000 sq. ft. Class 1000 cleanroom space (modules @ Class 1).<\/li>
  2. 2-inch wafer size (we will also expand to 4-inch and 6-inch lines).<\/li>
  3. Production time (including on-site, same facility packaging) < 12 days.<\/li>
  4. No photomask required.<\/li>
  5. Full capabilities including CMOS and NMOS & image sensor.<\/li>
  6. Differentiated equipment will avoid cross-contamination, capable of producing wafers on compound materials.<\/li>
  7. Capable of essential node prototype and production (within range of 118nm to 28nm).<\/li>
  8. Automated.<\/li>
  9. New FOUP Transfer system.<\/li>
  10. ChipForge\u2122<\/em> will locate its first site at one of two sites in the State of New York to be announced in March 2026.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    Phase 1b (2028-29)<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

    Scope, technologies, capacity targets, and site decision to be published upon completion of current discussions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The Products<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Our semiconductor product plan leverages cutting-edge ferroelectric materials to develop innovative products tailored to the automotive industry. The initial focus is on ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), offering low-power, high-speed, and durable memory solutions for automotive control systems and IoT-enabled devices. By partnering with a DRAM-memory company, we aim to accelerate foundry setup and design, building a foundation for integrating advanced ferroelectrics into power-efficient IoT sensors. These sensors will monitor critical vehicle parameters like tire pressure, vibration, brake wear, tread depth, internal air quality, and temperature while utilizing proprietary low-power radio technology for reliable data transmission, even in challenging environments. Our software will focus on IoT and failure predictability. Our long-term vision enables us to develop flexible, battery-free devices that combine energy storage, harvesting, sensing, and communication into a single robust package, ensuring extended operational life and alignment with green initiatives. This plan is linear and allows us to add innovation as it becomes available and still offers measurable benefits at each released stage.<\/p>

    Future planned advancements will focus on flexible circuit design and ferroelectrics to enable smart materials for attaching sensors to devices without impacting the device. Further, moving forward from energy storage, energy harvesting solutions, leveraging ferroelectrics\u2019 piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties, will power our IoT devices sustainably, reducing reliance on existing battery technologies such as lithium-ion batteries.<\/p>

    Our partnership with Advanced Printed Electronic Solutions, of Fishkill, NY (APES) will enhance our production capabilities by integrating the proprietary APES advanced packaging and miniaturization techniques and processes into the ChipForge chip-scale solutions, thereby broadening our applications across industries while lowering costs. Our integration of sensing, storage, and wireless communication into cohesive, flexible systems, will enable us to deliver cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and highly functional solutions for next-generation applications.<\/p>

    APES has created Matrix6D, an advanced adaptive manufacturing platform ideal for scalable, customizable chip packaging. It supports single die, multi-chiplets, System-in-Package (SiP), and heterogeneous integration, combining various functionalities such as sensors, logic\/memory\/control, and RF\/analog\/mixed signal.<\/p>

    In close partnership with AltaScient LLC of Atlanta, GA, GLS leverages accurate and dynamic risk assessments and demand forecasting which are vital for key component sourcing, investment decisions, technology development, capital expense decisions, workforce planning, inventory management and more. GLS plans to leverage advanced computational AI and Large Language Models (LLM) for predicting demand fluctuations, for improving supply chain transparency, digital twins and building resiliency against risks.<\/p>

    Fab-as-a-Service\u2122 <\/em><\/strong>(FaaS\u2122<\/em><\/strong>): GLS operates a model where it provides wafer production capacity and backend services on an on-demand subscription basis to startups, OEMs, and governments. This approach reduces customer capital expenditure risk, encourages ecosystem innovation, and ensures consistent revenue for GLS, thereby mitigating industry cyclicality.<\/p>

    FINPAT\u2122<\/em><\/strong> (Fab-Integrated Packaging and Test): Our end-to-end approach integrates wafer fab, advanced packaging (including additive manufacturing), test and reliability labs into a seamless delivery model. FINPAT enables rapid product iteration and reduces reliance on offshore backend ecosystems.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    The Vision<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The vision behind ChipForge<\/em><\/strong>\u2122 is to create a disruptive ecosystem that:<\/p>

    1. Utilises a proprietary SkyForge<\/em><\/strong>\u2122 modular fabrication system to process wafers separately, ensuring customer isolation for processes, contamination, and IP. This method prevents learning delays common in high-volume fabs and lowers reliance on stringent Class 1\u20132 air quality standards.<\/li>
    2. Integrates the \u201cZero Miles Collaborative Supply Chain design, silicon fabrication, 3D packaging, assembly, testing, and training in a single facility\u2014streamlining the TSMC technology park approach from Dick Thurston\u2019s era. The ChipForge<\/em><\/strong>\u2122 model enables rapid prototyping and small-batch production, letting GLS validate processes and reliability before scaling up.<\/li>
    3. Streamlines GLS sensor chip design into fab-ready wafers, enabling rapid scaling of AI data generation with less energy and resource use. This strengthens North America’s chip supply chain, reduces risks and dependence on Asia-Pacific manufacturing, and does not require changes to existing mega-fab operations.<\/li>
    4. Provides a practical alternative to heavily loaded conventional cleanroom manufacturing and highly radical “no cleanroom” methodologies.<\/li>
    5. Acknowledges that a significant portion of strategic semiconductor applications, including sensors, mixed-signal components, power management systems, embedded controllers, specialty devices, automotive technologies, select quantum and artificial intelligence solutions, as well as security or defense-oriented technologies, can be effectively manufactured using mature and “essential” process nodes.<\/li><\/ol>

      The technical thesis: \u201cProcess isolation is the lever \u2014 cleanrooms are the tax\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>

      1. ChipForge<\/em><\/strong>\u2122 deploys a “First Principles” approach to protect the wafer with automation rather than purifying the entire building’s air.<\/li>
      2. Isolation over HVAC:<\/strong> Our contamination control shifts from the cleanroom to wafer carriers through advanced SMIF\/FOUP pods.<\/li><\/ol>
        1. Cybernetic Logistics & “Lights-Out” Economics:<\/strong> Rigid conveyors and manual handling are replaced by autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), turning the fab into an autonomous system for 24\/7 “lights-out” manufacturing, significantly cutting operating expenses.<\/li><\/ol>
          1. Module-Level Control:<\/strong> Large-scale environmental systems are supplanted by targeted, module-level controls with digital twin integration, maintaining consistent yields regardless of warehouse conditions.<\/li>
          2. Improves cleanroom and process standards, enabling ChipForge<\/em><\/strong>\u2122<\/span> to:<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>