Thomas Caulfield is the CEO of GlobalFoundries, a major semiconductor chip manufacturer. (Photo provided)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The president and CEO of GlobalFoundries, a leading semiconductor manufacturing company, will join Purdue University President Moon Chan for a hearthside chat next week to announce the Spring 2025 President Lecture series begins.
Dr. Thomas Caulfield, who has led GlobalFoundries since 2018, led the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in October 2021, which was the largest semiconductor IPO on the Nasdaq that year. He has an extensive career spanning engineering, business management, and global operations leadership at leading technology companies.
Caulfield’s Presidential Lecture, titled “Semiconductors: The Core of the World Economy,” will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday (January 15) in Fowler Hall at the Stewart Center. The event is free and open to the public, but general admission tickets are required.
Mr. Caulfield and Mr. Chen are expected to explore the dynamic landscape of the semiconductor industry, with a focus on recent technology developments, particularly how GlobalFoundries is addressing opportunities in the emerging AI field. There is. Mr. Caulfield will also discuss the impact of CHIPS and the Science Act and GlobalFoundries’ strategic efforts to strengthen U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and ensure a safe and resilient supply chain.
“Dr. Caulfield’s leadership has propelled GlobalFoundries as a leading global company in the semiconductor industry, and his visit to Purdue is a great opportunity to support this industry and its critical to the national and economic security of the United States. “It represents a continuation of Purdue’s leadership in technology,” said Chen.
GlobalFoundries, headquartered in Malta, New York, is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors that power the technologies the world relies on to live, work and connect.
Mr. Caulfield joined GlobalFoundries in May 2014 as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Fab 8 semiconductor wafer fabrication facility in Malta, New York. In this role, he led operations, process development, and semiconductor manufacturing production expansion and ramp-up.
Prior to joining GlobalFoundries, from 2012 to 2014 he served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Soraa, the world’s leading developer of GaN on GaN (gallium nitride) solid-state lighting technology.
From 2009 to 2010, he also served as President and COO of Ausra, a leading provider of large-scale concentrated solar power solutions for power generation and industrial steam production. Prior to leading Ausra, Caulfield served as executive vice president of sales, marketing and customer service at Novellus Systems Inc.
Mr. Caulfield spent 17 years at IBM earlier in his career in various senior leadership roles, most recently as vice president of the company’s 300mm semiconductor business in the company’s microelectronics division, where he manufactured wafers in East Fishkill, New Jersey. and directed the research and development project. yoke.
He currently serves on the boards of Western Digital Corp. and the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Caulfield holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Lawrence University in New York. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in materials science and engineering from Columbia University’s Hu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Strategic Materials Engineering.
Under Mr. Caulfield’s leadership, GlobalFoundries works with industry, government, and academic leaders, including Mr. He expressed strong support for partisan CHIPS and the Science Act.
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is a $280 billion funding plan designed to spark innovation and research that supports the needs of the U.S. defense and semiconductor manufacturing industries. The measure, which stands for “Creating Incentives to Help Semiconductor Manufacturing,” specifically authorized about $53 billion for chipmakers.
Purdue’s growing semiconductor innovation ecosystem is one of the four key pillars of Purdue Computes. This is a comprehensive effort that includes becoming a leader in the field of physical artificial intelligence and advancing quantum science and engineering to create future technologies that enable unparalleled excellence at scale.
Following the success of a large-scale collaboration with Purdue, South Korea-based memory chip maker SK Hynix was awarded $458 million in direct funding through the federal CHIPS and Science Act on December 19, bringing the total to approximately $4 billion. Dollar’s advanced packaging manufacturing and manufacturing plans were strengthened. AI product research and development facility located at Purdue Research Park. The facility is expected to be operational in late 2028 and will mass produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of the graphics processing units that train AI systems such as ChatGPT.
About the Presidential Lecture Series
Initiated in 2014 by then-Purdue President Mitch Daniels and continued by President Moon Chan, the Presidential Lecture Series provides Purdue students and the broader community with inspirational ideas, courageous leadership, and civic engagement. and introduces a model of civil discussion. The Presidential Speaker Series has featured more than 40 guests from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, and has featured some of the greatest intellectual, business, and civic leaders of our time. As one of the world’s leading centers of academic leadership, Purdue is naturally a place where great thinkers from a variety of fields regularly gather.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution that exemplifies excellence at scale. Ranked among the top 10 public universities and two in the nation’s top four, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge at a quality and scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue in a variety of ways and locations, including more than 50,000 students in person at the West Lafayette campus. With a focus on affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition for the 13th consecutive year. Learn how Purdue continues its relentless pursuit of the next big leap, including Indianapolis’ first integrated urban campus, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes, and the One Health Initiative. Visit https://www.purdue.edu/. President/Strategic Initiatives.
