GlobalFoundries and BAE Systems Join Forces to Advance Radiation-Hardened Chips for Space Applications

• GlobalFoundries and BAE Systems are partnering to develop radiation-hardened chips using a 12nm FinFET platform.
• The collaboration combines GF’s U.S. manufacturing scale with BAE Systems’ expertise in space-grade electronics.
• The partnership aims to deliver both mission reliability and modern performance for aerospace, defense, and communications applications.
• Chips will be manufactured at GF’s DMEA-accredited Malta, New York fab, ensuring trusted U.S. based production.

GlobalFoundries and BAE Systems have announced a strategic collaboration to develop the next generation of radiation-hardened semiconductors for space applications, leveraging GF’s advanced 12-nanometer FinFET technology. The partnership combines GF’s high-volume U.S. manufacturing capabilities with BAE Systems’ decades of experience designing electronics that withstand the harshest space environments. Together, they aim to simplify and accelerate access to reliable, high-performance “space-grade” semiconductors for customers in space, defense, and communications.

Meeting the Demands of Modern Space Programs

Space missions are moving faster than ever, and civil, commercial, and defense programs all face the challenge of designing electronics that can withstand high radiation levels, wide temperature swings, and long mission lifetimes. At the same time, these programs demand the performance and power efficiency typical of today’s leading-edge commercial chips. Historically, radiation-hardened technology has lagged several process generations behind mainstream semiconductors.

This collaboration addresses that gap by pairing GF’s 12LP FinFET process with BAE Systems’ radiation-hardening techniques. The result is a solution that delivers both mission reliability and modern semiconductor performance in a single device.

Trusted U.S. Manufacturing on a 12nm FinFET Platform

The new rad-hard devices will be fabricated at GF’s Malta, New York facility, a DMEA-accredited site built to support ITAR and EAR-controlled programs. For aerospace and defense customers, this provides the assurance of a secure, trusted manufacturing environment while still benefiting from a high-volume, commercially proven process.

GF’s 12LP platform brings the advantages of FinFET transistors for improved performance and power efficiency, integrated RF, embedded memory, and logic on a single die, and a foundation for compact, application-specific SoCs. Engineers can consolidate compute, control, and RF front-ends into one chip, reducing the complexity of multi-component designs and accelerating system-level innovation.

Building on GF’s process, BAE Systems introduces the RH12™ Storefront, a design and IP platform that streamlines the development of custom rad-hard ASICs. RH12 provides radiation-hardened IP blocks optimized for the 12LP process and simplifies design flows for space-grade ASICs, helping customers reduce both time-to-market and technical risk.

The platform is particularly suited for applications such as satellite avionics, high-throughput satellite communications, and space-based sensing and surveillance, enabling customers to develop tailored solutions for mission-critical programs efficiently and reliably.