| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductor |
| Founded | 1966; 60 years ago (1966) |
| Defunct | 2015; 11 years ago (2015) |
| Fate | Divestiture; remaining plants sold toGlobalFoundries (excluding Quebec) |
| Headquarters | |
| Parent | International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) |
| Website | chips.ibm.com at theWayback Machine (archived December 22, 1996) |
IBM Microelectronics Division was thesemiconductor arm ofInternational Business Machines Corporation (IBM) from 1966 to 2015. Two facilities inEssex Junction, Vermont, andEast Fishkill, New York, housed the majority of the division. It was sold toGlobalFoundries in 2015; as part of the agreement, IBM gave its Essex Junction and East Fishkill factories and $1.5 billion in cash to GlobalFoundries in exchange for the latter supplying high-technology chips to IBM for a decade.
IBM Microelectronics took root from the opening of two separate facilities formicroelectronics: aEssex Junction, Vermont, facility in 1957, and theHudson Valley Research Park facility in 1963.[1][2] The Microelectronics Division was formally organized in 1966.[3] By 2001, its operations also comprised offices inNorth Carolina,Minnesota,Colorado.[4] It also had a plant inQuebec.[5]
The Essex Junction facility spanned 700 acres (2.8 km2) and was the primary site of domestic semiconductor manufacture for IBM before 2002.[6][7] In 1966, this factory produced the first mass manufacturedsemiconductorDRAM, based onRobert H. Dennard's patents developed for IBM in 1966. Such chips were later used in the company'sSystem/370 Model 145 mainframe (1970), IBM's first computer built entirely from integrated circuits, abandoning thecore memory of old. Employment in the Essex Junction facility peaked in the mid-1990s, with roughly 8,500 employees.[6] Meanwhile, The Hudson Valley Research Park facility inEast Fishkill, New York, spanned 464 acres (1.88 km2) and was the primary site of semiconductor wafer and packaging manufacture after 2002.[1]
In 2002, as part of a wave of major layoffs within IBM cutting 15,600 jobs by August that year,[8] the company let go of 1,500 people in their Microelectronics facility in Essex Junction and East Fishkill. This layoff primarily affected the former, which had employed 7,000.[9][10] Executives at IBM called the layoffs part of a restructuring of the Microelectronics Division, whose business was to move toward operating as achip foundry on acontract basis, instead of mass manufacturing its own wares to sell onto the semiconductor market.[9] A large portion of IBM's Microelectronics operations in Vermont was spun off into a new company, Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EI), in 2002.[11] Another layoff the Vermont factory in 2003 reduced the headcount by 500, with 6,000 employees remaining.[10]
Following a year of discussion,[12][13] in 2015, IBM divested its entire Microelectronics Division, now only comprising the East Fishkill and Essex Junction facilities, toGlobalFoundries—itself a spin-off of once long-time rivalAMD. As part of the deal, IBM paid GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion in exchange for the latter supplying IBM with high semiconductor technology for the next decade.[1][2] The Quebec plant remained unaffected by the deal, having been placed under IBM's Canadian subsidiary.[5]
In 2019,Marvell acquired Avera Semiconductor from GlobalFoundries, that was previously part of IBM Microelectronics.[14]
In 2021, IBM and GlobalFoundries sued each other for breach of contract, with IBM alleging that GlobalFoundries misused the $1.5 billion in unrelated ventures. IBM stated:[15]
IBM depended on GlobalFoundries after investing heavily in a long-term mutual relationship. GlobalFoundries responded by taking IBM's money, and benefitting from IBM's knowledge, skill and assets. Though GlobalFoundries repeatedly assured IBM it would meet its commitments, GlobalFoundries instead abruptly and without any justification walked away from IBM while IBM was reliant on GlobalFoundries. GlobalFoundries has demonstrably failed to act as a reliable partner and supplier.[15]
The lawsuit was issued among the then-currentglobal chip shortage. A spokesperson for GlobalFoundries called the claims "meritless ... Quite frankly, this is very disappointing coming from a company we have such a long history and strong partnership with."[15] In 2023, GlobalFoundries sued IBM again over anintellectual property dispute involving IBM's agreement withRapidus.[16]
In January 2025, IBM and GlobalFoundries settled the lawsuit.[17]
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