GlobalFoundries qualifies SLATE™ advanced packaging technology on 9SW platform for next-generation radio frequency applications - The Manila Times

GlobalFoundries has announced that its SLATE™ wafer-to-wafer bonding technology is now production-ready on its industry-leading 9SW radio-frequency silicon-on-insulator (RF-SOI) platform, enabling com... Read original →

GlobalFoundries’ production-ready SLATE™ on its 9SW RF-SOI platform triggers a structural shift in RF front-end design, compelling rivals like Qorvo and Skyworks to abandon discrete-component roadmaps or risk obsolescence in sub-8GHz/FR3 5G markets. The tight integration of Cadence’s Virtuoso Studio and GF’s PDK erects a co-optimization moat that marginalizes smaller fabless players lacking ecosystem access. While manufacturing in Singapore sidesteps U.S. logic-node export controls, escalating U.S.-China tensions could soon target advanced packaging tools, threatening supply continuity. Within 12–24 months, this move will normalize heterogeneous stacking of RF-SOI with FDX™ and SiGe, establishing compact, high-efficiency FEMs as the de facto standard for IoT and LEO satellite terminals—and forcing TSMC and Samsung to fast-track RF adaptations of their own 3D integration platforms like SoIC and I-Cube.