December 20, 2025 — GlobalFoundries Inc. (NASDAQ: GFS) is heading into year-end with an unusually dense cluster of catalysts for a “specialty foundry” name: an impending removal from the Nasdaq-100, fresh Europe-leaning policy support, a string of power-semiconductor (GaN) partnerships, and a strategic push deeper into silicon photonics—one of the most hyped bottlenecks in AI-era infrastructure.
Shares last traded around $36.63 (U.S. market closed for the weekend), implying a market cap near $20.35 billion. [1]
What follows is a complete, publication-ready rundown of the latest news, company guidance, and current Wall Street forecast range as of 20.12.2025—with context on why each item matters for GFS stock.
Why GlobalFoundries stock is in the spotlight right now
Three narratives are colliding:
- Index mechanics: GlobalFoundries is set to be removed from the Nasdaq-100 effective before market open on Monday, December 22, 2025. [2]
- Industrial policy tailwinds: Europe just approved German state aid, while GF continues positioning itself as a “trusted, multi-geography” capacity provider—an angle that resonates in an era of supply-chain nationalism. [3]
- Power + photonics roadmap: The company is building out a power semiconductor (GaN) pipeline and expanding silicon photonics capacity and capability via partnerships and acquisitions. [4]
These aren’t abstract “story stocks” themes, either. They connect directly to how the market tends to price foundries: utilization, long-cycle capacity commitments, margin trajectory, and customer lock-in.
Nasdaq-100 removal: what it means for GFS stock into Dec. 22
Nasdaq’s annual reconstitution announcement lists GlobalFoundries (GFS) among the six companies being removed from the Nasdaq-100, with changes effective December 22, 2025. [5]
The real-world impact: flows, not fundamentals
Being removed from a major index often creates one-time trading pressure because index funds and ETFs that track the Nasdaq-100 must rebalance. Nasdaq notes the Nasdaq-100 underpins more than 200 tracking products with over $600 billion in assets under management globally (including QQQ). [6]
That doesn’t automatically mean “GFS must fall,” but it does mean liquidity and short-term supply/demand can matter more than usual around the effective date. For investors and traders, this is one of the cleanest explanations for why a stock can move sharply without a new earnings report.
Europe catalyst: EU approves German state aid tied to semiconductor facilities
On December 11, 2025, Reuters reported the European Commission approved €623 million in German government aid for two semiconductor manufacturing facilities, with the larger grant—€495 million—going to GlobalFoundries. [7]
For GFS stock, this matters in two ways:
- It’s a direct policy signal that European governments are willing to pay to anchor capacity locally (especially outside Taiwan/China concentration). [8]
- It strengthens the financing logic behind GF’s Dresden expansion plan (more on that below). [9]
Dresden expansion: €1.1B plan to push capacity above 1M wafers/year
GlobalFoundries announced on October 28, 2025 it plans to invest €1.1 billion to expand manufacturing capabilities at its Dresden, Germany site, targeting production capacity exceeding one million wafers per year by end of 2028. [10]
The company frames the “SPRINT” expansion as aligned with the European Chips Act, and Reuters reported the project is expected to be supported by Germany and Saxony, with EU approval expected later. [11]
Why Dresden is strategically important
GF isn’t trying to out-TSMC TSMC at the bleeding edge. The Dresden story is about scaled, secure supply for sectors that care about qualification, longevity, and geopolitics—automotive, industrial, IoT, defense, and infrastructure. [12]
December corporate news: CFO appointment and deal-making focus
Sam Franklin named CFO
On December 10, 2025, GlobalFoundries announced its board appointed Sam Franklin as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. [13]
Why markets care: CFO changes can influence how investors interpret capital allocation, margin discipline, and the pace of M&A—all sensitive levers for a capital-intensive foundry.
New Chief Corporate Development Officer
On December 1, 2025, GF also appointed Matthew Zack as Chief Corporate Development Officer, with a mandate spanning M&A, strategic partnerships, venture investments, and integration. [14]
Read together, the CFO appointment + corporate development role is a tell: GF is explicitly signaling that inorganic growth and partnership-driven expansion are central to its strategy—particularly as AI infrastructure pulls demand toward power efficiency and optical interconnects.
AI-driven manufacturing: Siemens collaboration aims to boost fab efficiency and resilience
On December 11, 2025, Siemens and GlobalFoundries announced a strategic collaboration to deploy AI-driven manufacturing and fab automation capabilities (including predictive maintenance and automation spanning chip development through lifecycle management). [15]
In plain English: fabs are expensive machines that print money only when they run. Anything that lifts equipment availability, reduces unplanned downtime, and improves energy efficiency can support margin stability—which is one of the market’s ongoing debates about GF compared with peers. [16]
Power semiconductors (GaN): GF’s late-2026 production push is getting crowded—in a good way
If 2024–2025 was “AI compute,” 2026+ is increasingly shaping up as “AI power and plumbing.” GlobalFoundries is leaning hard into gallium nitride (GaN), which is used for high-efficiency power conversion in data centers, EVs, industrial systems, and fast chargers.
1) onsemi + GlobalFoundries GaN collaboration (Dec. 18)
On December 18, 2025, onsemi announced a collaboration with GF to develop and manufacture next-gen GaN power products using GF’s 200mm eMode GaN-on-silicon process, starting with 650V solutions targeting AI data centers, automotive, industrial, aerospace/defense, and more. [17]
This is notable because it pairs:
- GF’s manufacturing process platform (200mm GaN-on-silicon)
- with onsemi’s drivers/controllers and packaging approach
into a system-level efficiency pitch for power-hungry markets. [18]
2) GF + Navitas long-term GaN partnership (Nov. 20)
GF and Navitas Semiconductor announced a long-term strategic partnership to accelerate U.S.-based GaN design and manufacturing, with production targeted at GF’s Burlington, Vermont facility; development set for early 2026 with production expected later that year. [19]
3) GF licenses GaN technology from TSMC (Nov. 10)
GF also announced a technology licensing agreement with TSMC for 650V and 80V GaN technology, stating products are expected to be available in late 2026 and that the company will qualify the technology at its Burlington, Vermont facility. [20]
Takeaway for GFS stock: GF is assembling a “GaN stack” through licensing + partnerships, rather than betting solely on internally developed nodes. That can speed time-to-market—but it also sets expectations that execution (qualification, yield, customer ramps) will be a key scoreboard item through 2026. [21]
Silicon photonics: GlobalFoundries buys Advanced Micro Foundry
On November 17, 2025, GlobalFoundries announced it acquired Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), a Singapore-based silicon photonics foundry, saying it becomes the largest silicon photonics pure-play foundry by revenue and plans to establish a silicon photonics R&D center of excellence in Singapore with A*STAR, focusing on next-gen materials and ultra-fast data transfer. [22]
Reuters also framed the acquisition as part of GF’s strategy to accelerate performance in AI data center networks and quantum computing-related interconnect needs. [23]
For GFS stock, photonics matters because it potentially moves GF up the value chain from “wafers” toward the components and platforms that define AI cluster networking bottlenecks.
Another Europe move: GlobalFoundries partners with Cloudberry to seed startups
On December 18, 2025, GF announced a partnership with Finnish VC firm Cloudberry, including GF participating as a limited partner in a new fund and committing technical resources to help European semiconductor and photonics startups scale. [24]
This isn’t a near-term revenue driver by itself, but it’s strategically aligned with GF’s push to be embedded in ecosystems that feed future demand in autonomous vehicles, “Physical AI,” Industry 4.0, and next-gen communications. [25]
Earnings recap: what GF reported, and what it guided for next
GlobalFoundries’ most recent quarterly update (Q3 2025, released Nov. 12) reported:
- Revenue:$1.688B
- Gross margin:24.8% (Non-IFRS 26.0%)
- Diluted EPS:$0.44 (Non-IFRS $0.41)
- Ending cash / equivalents / marketable securities:$4.2B
- Wafer shipments (300mm equivalent):602k [26]
Q4 2025 guidance (the “forecast” the company controls)
GF guided for Q4 2025:
- Revenue:$1.800B ± $25M
- Non-IFRS gross margin:28.5% ± 100 bps
- Non-IFRS operating margin:16.8% ± 170 bps
- Non-IFRS diluted EPS:$0.47 ± $0.05 [27]
Reuters also highlighted that management expectations for Q4 revenue and earnings were above analysts’ estimates, supported by demand in automotive and data center markets. [28]
Segment exposure: the mix that drives investor debates
Reuters reported GF’s largest segment is smartphones (over 40% of revenue), while automotive clients average around 16% and communications infrastructure/data center customers about 10.5%. [29]
That mix is important because:
- smartphones tend to be more cyclical and pricing-sensitive,
- automotive/industrial can be stickier but qualification-heavy,
- data center infrastructure demand has the “AI halo” but isn’t the same as making AI GPUs. [30]
Wall Street forecasts for GFS stock: price targets, ratings, and what’s changed recently
Consensus targets move constantly, but as of mid-to-late December 2025, major trackers show a low-to-mid $40s average.
Consensus price target range
MarketBeat’s aggregation shows:
- Average 12-month price target: about $40.62
- High:$52
- Low:$35 [31]
Notable recent analyst action
- Bank of America reportedly raised its price target to $41 from $37, while maintaining an Underperform rating (a very “yes-but-no” stance that usually signals valuation math improved, but conviction didn’t). [32]
- Jefferies previously lowered its price target to $37 (Nov. 12 coverage note). [33]
What the mixed ratings usually imply
For a foundry like GF, splits happen because analysts weigh different things:
- Bulls tend to emphasize: policy-backed capex, supply-chain security premiums, photonics/power optionality, and long customer programs. [34]
- Bears tend to emphasize: cyclical utilization risk, pricing pressure, and the reality that GF is not the primary manufacturer of the most advanced AI compute chips (so it can miss the hottest part of the cycle). [35]
Valuation and technical backdrop for GlobalFoundries stock (as of Dec. 20, 2025)
On commonly referenced market-stat dashboards, GFS currently screens like a large-cap industrial-tech hybrid:
- Forward P/E: ~20.86
- Price/Sales: ~2.99
- Price/Free Cash Flow: ~17.47
- 50-day moving average: ~35.56
- 200-day moving average: ~36.04
- RSI: ~49.6 (roughly neutral) [36]
Interpretation: the stock isn’t screaming “momentum darling” right now; it’s trading more like a name waiting for fundamental confirmation (utilization, margins, and durable end-market demand) and dealing with index-related noise into December 22. [37]
What to watch next: the near-term calendar for GFS
- Nasdaq-100 reconstitution effective:Dec. 22, 2025 (watch for volume spikes and unusual closes). [38]
- Next earnings: not yet confirmed by the company, but multiple trackers estimate Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 based on historical timing. [39]
- Execution milestones through 2026:
Bottom line: the GFS stock setup into 2026 looks like “plumbing for the AI era,” not “AI chips”
GlobalFoundries stock is entering 2026 with a clearer strategic identity:
- AI-adjacent infrastructure exposure through power (GaN) and optical interconnect (silicon photonics), plus automation partnerships aimed at fab efficiency. [43]
- Policy-backed industrial footprint expansion in both the U.S. and Europe—useful in a world where geography is part of the product. [44]
- A short-term index event (Nasdaq-100 removal) that may distort price action independently of operations. [45]
That combination can create a weird—but potentially informative—period where flow-driven volatility (index rebalance) collides with fundamental milestones (margin guidance, GaN roadmaps, photonics integration). For investors, the key question isn’t “Will AI exist?” but “Will GF’s differentiated platforms convert into sustained utilization and margin expansion, beyond one-quarter guidance?”
References
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