Trump administration expands GlobalFoundries stake as Japan funds new chip fabs
The U.S. government is adding an approximately 4% stake in GlobalFoundries while a U.S.-Japan initiative plans up to $21 billion for two New York chip factories.
President Donald Trump’s administration has agreed to take an additional equity stake of approximately 4% in GlobalFoundries while a U.S.-Japan initiative prepares to finance two new semiconductor factories in Malta, New York. Together, the agreements deepen direct government involvement in a major American chipmaker and tie Trump’s trade arrangement with Japan to new U.S. manufacturing capacity.
GlobalFoundries announced the agreements on October 14, 2026. Yahoo Finance reported on October 15 that a company official said earlier federal holdings totaled between 3% and 4%, putting the government’s combined position close to 8%. Trump said in a social-media post that the stake was worth more than $2 billion. The company has not published a precise final percentage for all federal holdings, so the near-8% figure remains an estimate based on its description of the prior stakes.
Japan-backed plan starts with a $10 billion fab
Under the manufacturing plan, Japan will provide capital through a special-purpose vehicle jointly owned by the U.S. and Japanese governments. GlobalFoundries will supply technology and operate the facilities rather than own the underlying factory infrastructure, according to the company’s investor presentation and reporting by Reuters and Yahoo Finance.
The initial investment is approximately $10 billion for a 300-millimeter wafer fabrication plant expected to begin production in 2029. A second investment of about $10 billion could fund another fab, taking the initiative to as much as $21 billion. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry described the current total project cost as $10 billion while saying expansion could lift it to $21 billion.
GlobalFoundries said each fab could add roughly 900,000 300-millimeter wafers of annual U.S. capacity when fully operating. The company estimates the project will support about 27,000 construction and related jobs and more than 1,000 high-skilled manufacturing positions. The first groundbreaking is planned for later in 2026 at the company’s existing Malta campus.
CHIPS award is redirected, not increased
A related Commerce Department agreement reallocates up to $955 million from GlobalFoundries’ existing CHIPS and Science Act award. The department said the total federal award will not increase. Instead, more of the existing money will support a planned $5 billion company investment in facilities in Malta and Burlington, Vermont.
The work is aimed at silicon photonics, silicon-germanium technology and advanced packaging, including what the Commerce Department described as the first U.S.-based source of silicon interposers. Those components are important to data centers and communications systems. GlobalFoundries said the added government equity is a separate agreement from the revised CHIPS award.
The distinction is important because the package combines three different elements: Japanese financing for new factories, a reallocation of previously approved U.S. incentives, and a new federal ownership position. The headline figure of up to $21 billion refers to the potential Japanese-backed fab initiative, not a new $21 billion payment from the U.S. Treasury.
A broader shift toward federal corporate ownership
The GlobalFoundries deal extends the Trump administration’s use of minority equity stakes in companies receiving federal support. Earlier 2026 agreements connected separate GlobalFoundries projects in quantum computing and silicon photonics to federal positions of about 1% each. Yahoo Finance reported that federal holdings now span roughly three dozen companies, while critics including free-market advocates have argued that Washington should not become a routine corporate shareholder.
Trump has defended the strategy as a way for taxpayers to share in the value created by government-backed investments. GlobalFoundries called the latest package a benefit for both the United States and Japan, while emphasizing that it will be compensated for providing technology and operating the new plants. Construction schedules, the second fab and the full $21 billion total remain contingent on the initiative advancing beyond its initial phase.
Sources and image credit
Reporting and analysis: Yahoo Finance and Reuters. Primary records: GlobalFoundries announcement, U.S. Commerce Department/NIST release and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry release.
Image: Official White House photograph by Daniel Torok showing Trump meeting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the United Nations on September 22, 2026, via Wikimedia Commons; original in the White House Flickr archive. The image is public domain as a U.S. federal government work. It is an archival image of the U.S.-Japan relationship; cropped and resized to 1600×900 with no text added.