GlobalFoundries CEO looking at going public in 2022

Ten years ago, AMD called in the help of Abu Dhabi to divest its manufacturing arm. At the time, AMD was in a bad position and the company saw itself forced to sell off assets to cope with its bad financial results and high debt. This resulted in the creation of GlobalFoundries, initially a joint-venture between AMD and Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), but now fully owned by the latter.

GlobalFoundries tried to play with the big boys in the foundry business but last year the company ditched its 7nm process development to focus more on specialty foundry services. Now it appears Abu Dhabi is looking to lighten up as GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield told WSJ that the company is looking at going public in 2022. Caulfield says ATIC wants to sell a minority stake in GlobalFoundries.

Globalfoundries is betting recent moves to bolster its bottom line have opened the door to a potential listing. The company backed away from expensive investments in the newest and smallest transistors that drive the world’s most advanced microprocessors. A boom in demand for chips, coupled with streamlined costs, should help the company generate $6 billion in sales and more than $550 million in free cash flow this year, Mr. Caulfield said.