GlobalFoundries, the chip manufacturing firm that began as a spin-off of AMD, announced plans to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations with a bunch of new projects.

First up is a new wafer manufacturing facility at Fab 1 in Dresden, already the largest wafer fab in Europe. After the expansion, Fab 1's total output will ramp up to 80,000 wafers per month and add additional 45nm, 40nm, and 28nm capacity, GlobalFoundries says.

In addition, GlobablFoundries will expand the cleanroom shell currently under construction at Fab 8 in New York. Once finished, the company will have the option of increasing capacity of 28nm, 22nm, and 20nm parts and bring the overall site output up to 60,000 wafers per month.

"Our 300mm fabs have been consistently ranked among the most advanced and efficient in the industry," said Chia Song Hwee, chief operating officer, GLOBALFOUNDRIES. "Now we are taking our heritage of lean foundry manufacturing and world-class fab performance and making it available on a broader scale to meet the demands of the world’s leading chip design companies. With this aggressive capacity build-out plan, we are well positioned to provide new and existing customers with the fastest option to get advanced products to market in the volumes they need to ensure success."

GlobalFoundries went on to say that the big focus for the Fab 1 campus will be on adding new capacity to support additional growth. Put into perspective for sports fans, GlobalFoundries says the fabrication equipment would be able to cover an area equivalent to approximately eight soccer fields. Game on.