IBM Microelectronics: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Defunct semiconductor division of IBM}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox company

| name=IBM Microelectronics Division

| parent=[[IBM|International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)]]

| logo=

| logo=IBM Microelectronics Division logo from keychain.svg

| logo_size=

| founded={{start date and age|1966}}

| defunct={{start date and age|2015}}

| hq_location={{flatlist|

* [[BurlingtonEssex Junction, Vermont]]

* [[East Fishkill, New York]] ([[Hudson Valley Research Park]])

* [[North Carolina]]

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| website={{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961222145642/http://www.chips.ibm.com/ | date=December 22, 1996 | title=chips.ibm.com}}

}}

'''IBM Microelectronics Division''' was the [[semiconductor]] arm of [[IBM|International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)]] from 1966 to 2015. Two facilities in [[BurlingtonEssex Junction, Vermont]], and [[East Fishkill, New York]], housed the majority of the division. It was sold to [[GlobalFoundries]] in 2015; as part of the agreement, IBM gave its BurlingtonEssex 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.

==History==

IBM Microelectronics took root from the opening of two separate facilities for [[microelectronics]]: a [[BurlingtonEssex Junction, Vermont]], facility in 1957, and the [[Hudson Valley Research Park]] facility in 1963.<ref name=poughkeepsiejournal2015>{{cite web | last=Wolf | first=Craig | date=June 30, 2015 | url=https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/money/2015/06/30/impacts-plentiful-ibm-globalfoundries-deal/29516915/ | title=It's Day One as GlobalFoundries for ex-IBM plant | work=Poughkeepsie Journal | publisher=Gannett Company | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704143435/https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/money/2015/06/30/impacts-plentiful-ibm-globalfoundries-deal/29516915/ | archivedate=July 4, 2015}}</ref><ref name=mynbc5>{{cite web | last=Ledbetter | first=Stewart | date=July 2, 2015 | url=https://www.mynbc5.com/article/globalfoundries-takes-control-of-ibm-semiconductor-division/3324138 | title=GlobalFoundries takes control of IBM semiconductor division | work=[[WPTZ|My NBC5]] | publisher=Hearst Television | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509205428/https://www.mynbc5.com/article/globalfoundries-takes-control-of-ibm-semiconductor-division/3324138 | archivedate=May 9, 2017}}</ref> The Microelectronics Division was formally organized in 1966.<ref>{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=October 10, 2012 | url=https://www.automationworld.com/home/news/13307819/endicott-interconnect-technologies-names-raj-rai-chief-technology-officer | title=Endicott Interconnect Technologies Names Raj Rai Chief Technology Officer | work=AutomationWorld | publisher=PMMI Media Group | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124191545/https://www.automationworld.com/home/news/13307819/endicott-interconnect-technologies-names-raj-rai-chief-technology-officer | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> By 2001, its operations also comprised offices in [[North Carolina]], [[Minnesota]], [[Colorado]].<ref name=Yi2001>{{cite web | last=Yi | first=Matthew | author2=Benjamin Pimentel | author3=George Raine | date=November 29, 2001 | url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BUSINESS-DIGEST-2849291.php | title=Business Digest | work=SFGate | publisher=Hearst | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124193147/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BUSINESS-DIGEST-2849291.php | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> It also had a plant in [[Quebec]].<ref name=quebec>{{Cite news|last=Bertrand Marotte|date=October 20, 2014|title=IBM plant in Quebec not part of semiconductor divestiture|language=en-CA|work=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ibm-plant-in-quebec-not-part-of-semiconductor-divestiture/article21161118/|access-date=December 18, 2021}}</ref>

The BurlingtonEssex Junction facility spanned {{convert|700|acre|km2}} and was the primary site of domestic semiconductor manufacture for IBM before 2002.<ref name=vermontbiz /><ref name=eetimes1>{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=May 14, 2002 | url=https://www.eetimes.com/ibm-reportedly-looks-to-sell-part-of-vermont-fab-site/ | title=IBM reportedly looks to sell part of Vermont fab site | work=EETimes | publisher=AspenCore | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124192840/https://www.eetimes.com/ibm-reportedly-looks-to-sell-part-of-vermont-fab-site/ | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> In 1966, this factory produced the first mass manufactured [[Semiconductor memory|semiconductor]] [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]], based on [[Robert H. Dennard]]'s patents developed for IBM in 1966. Such chips were later used in the company's [[IBM System/370 Model 145|System/370 Model 145]] mainframe (1970), IBM's first computer built entirely from integrated circuits, abandoning the [[core memory]] of old. Employment in the BurlingtonEssex Junction facility peaked in the mid-1990s, with roughly 8,500 employees.<ref name=vermontbiz>{{cite web | last=McQuiston | first=Timothy | date=June 30, 2015 | url=https://vermontbiz.com/news/2015/june/30/ibm-thanks-memories | title=IBM, thanks for the memories | work=Vermont Business Magazine | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124194203/https://vermontbiz.com/news/2015/june/30/ibm-thanks-memories | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> Meanwhile, The Hudson Valley Research Park facility in [[East Fishkill, New York]], spanned {{convert|464|acre|km2}} and was the primary site of semiconductor wafer and packaging manufacture after 2002.<ref name=poughkeepsiejournal2015 />

In 2002, as part of a wave of major layoffs within IBM cutting 15,600 jobs by August that year,<ref name=wp>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=August 14, 2002 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2002/08/14/ibm-cutting-15600-jobs/00df405d-a9f1-4ff7-bdb1-db9182fb4b4f/ | title=IBM Cutting 15,600 Jobs | newspaper=The Washington Post | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124200248/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2002/08/14/ibm-cutting-15600-jobs/00df405d-a9f1-4ff7-bdb1-db9182fb4b4f/ | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> the company let go of 1,500 people in their Microelectronics facility in BurlingtonEssex Junction and East Fishkill. This layoff primarily affected the former, which had employed 7,000.<ref name=cnnmoney>{{cite web | last=Richtmyer | first=Richard | date=June 4, 2002 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2002/06/04/technology/ibm/index.htm | title=IBM cuts more jobs, sets charge | work=CNNMoney | publisher=AOL–Time Warner | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020805133327/https://money.cnn.com/2002/06/04/technology/ibm/index.htm | archivedate=August 5, 2002}}</ref><ref name=Mokhoff2003>{{cite web | last=Mokhoff | first=Nicolas | date=August 19, 2003 | url=https://www.eetimes.com/ibm-lays-off-500-at-vermont-microelectronics-plant-2/ | title=IBM lays off 500 at Vermont microelectronics plant | work=EETimes | publisher=AspenCore | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124200417/https://www.eetimes.com/ibm-lays-off-500-at-vermont-microelectronics-plant-2/ | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref> Executives at IBM called the layoffs part of a restructuring of the Microelectronics Division, whose business was to move toward operating as a [[chip foundry]] on a [[Contract manufacturer|contract]] basis, instead of mass manufacturing its own wares to sell onto the semiconductor market.<ref name=cnnmoney /> A large portion of IBM's Microelectronics operations in Vermont was spun off into a new company, Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EI), in 2002.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burton | first=Terrence T. | date=2011 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSZMLC1t3KsC | title=Accelerating Lean Six Sigma Results: How to Achieve Improvement Excellence in the New Economy | publisher=J. Ross | page=81 | isbn=9781604270549 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Another layoff the Vermont factory in 2003 reduced the headcount by 500, with 6,000 employees remaining.<ref name=Mokhoff2003 />

==2015 sale to GlobalFoundries==

Following a year of discussion,<ref>{{cite web|title=IBM Looking to Sell Chip Manufacturing Operations|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303496804579367710245657016|website=The Wall Street Journal|date=February 7, 2014 |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |last1=Clark |first1=Don |last2=Ante |first2=Spencer E. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Brodkin|first=Jon|date=October 20, 2014|title=Struggling IBM pays $1.5 billion to dump its chipmaking business|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/struggling-ibm-pays-1-5-billion-to-dump-its-chipmaking-business/|access-date=December 18, 2021|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us}}</ref> in 2015, IBM divested its entire Microelectronics Division, now only comprising the East Fishkill and BurlingtonEssex Junction facilities, to [[GlobalFoundries]]—itself a spin-off of once long-time rival [[AMD]]. As part of the deal, IBM paid GlobalFoundries $1.5&nbsp;billion in exchange for the latter supplying IBM with high semiconductor technology for the next decade.<ref name=poughkeepsiejournal2015 /><ref name=mynbc5 /> The Quebec plant remained unaffected by the deal, having been placed under IBM's Canadian subsidiary.<ref name=quebec />

In 2019, [[Marvell Technology|Marvell]] acquired Avera Semiconductor from GlobalFoundries, that was previously part of IBM Microelectronics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frumusanu |first=Andrei |title=Marvell Unveils its Comprehensive Custom ASIC Offering |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/15931/marvell-unveils-its-comprehensive-custom-asic-offering |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728013445/https://www.anandtech.com/show/15931/marvell-unveils-its-comprehensive-custom-asic-offering |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=www.anandtech.com}}</ref>

In 2021, IBM and GlobalFoundries sued each other for breach of contract, with IBM alleging that GlobalFoundries misused the $1.5&nbsp;billion in unrelated ventures. IBM stated:<ref name="burlingtonfreepress">{{cite web | last=D'Ambrosio | first=Dan | date=June 11, 2021 | url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2021/06/11/ibm-sues-globalfoundries-breach-contract-semiconductor-spat-essex-junction-microelectronics-vt/7652597002/ | title=IBM sues GlobalFoundries for breach of contract, wants its $1.5 billion back and more | work=Burlington Free Press | publisher=Gannett Company | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230124202452/https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2021/06/11/ibm-sues-globalfoundries-breach-contract-semiconductor-spat-essex-junction-microelectronics-vt/7652597002/ | archivedate=January 24, 2023}}</ref>

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== External links ==

* {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961222145642/http://www.chips.ibm.com/ | date=December 22, 1996 | title=Official website}}

* {{cite web | last=Pickup | first=Lance | date=July 1, 2015 | url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reflections-transfer-ibm-microelectronics-global-foundries-pickup | title=Reflections on the transfer of IBM Microelectronics to Global Foundries | work=Pulse | publisher=LinkedIn | archiveurl= | archivedate=}}

{{IBM}}