CEA-Leti has reaffirmed its more than two‑decade collaboration with GlobalFoundries (GF) through the FAMES Pilot Line, an EU‑backed initiative under the Chips JU that targets energy‑efficient, sovereign semiconductor technologies. GF’s role as an end user of early‑stage research is accelerating next‑generation fully depleted silicon‑on‑insulator (FD‑SOI) innovation and reinforcing Europe’s leadership in the differentiated FD‑SOI landscape.

The FAMES Pilot Line, funded by the European Commission and participating Member States, focuses on early‑stage R&D for advanced semiconductors, with emphasis on energy efficiency, sustainability, and European technological resilience. Industrial partners like GF ensure the research aligns with real‑world application needs.

CEA‑Leti and GF’s joint work has already delivered GF’s 22FDX platform, introduced in 2018 at GF’s Dresden fab. Based on FD‑SOI, 22FDX offers performance comparable to 14/16nm FinFET nodes for many workloads, but with lower power consumption and inherent radiation tolerance — qualities that suit mobile, automotive, satellite, edge AI, and high‑reliability space applications.

Within FAMES, the partners are advancing FD‑SOI through device enhancements and next‑generation substrate innovations, including strained silicon concepts co‑developed with Soitec. These efforts aim to extend FD‑SOI’s performance and energy efficiency for future demands. The work also spans a growing portfolio of FDX‑based programs: RF power amplifiers for 5G/6G, embedded non‑volatile memory enabling compute‑in‑memory for edge AI, ultra‑low‑power biomedical wearables, and cybersecure components. Both organizations view FAMES as a natural stepping stone toward 3D heterogeneous integration on future FDX generations, further positioning FD‑SOI as Europe’s most versatile platform for sovereign, energy‑conscious silicon.

As a European‑led technology, FD‑SOI’s evolution through sustained research‑industry cooperation continues to underpin long‑term competitiveness and the region’s technological sovereignty.

Communiqué de presse|Actualité|Nouvelles technologies

GRENOBLE, France – June 11, 2026 – CEA‑Leti, a leading European research institute for microelectronics, today reaffirmed its long‑standing collaboration with GlobalFoundries (GF), whose ongoing participation in the FAMES Pilot Line as an end user is advancing more than two decades of joint work on fully depleted silicon‑on‑insulator (FD‑SOI) technology and reinforcing Europe's leadership in energy‑efficient, sovereign semiconductors. Funded by the European Commission and participating Member States under the Chips JU, FAMES continues to accelerate the early‑stage research shaping the next generation of FD‑SOI.​

The FAMES Pilot Line is designed to accelerate early‑stage research and development in advanced semiconductor technologies, with a strong focus on energy efficiency, sustainability and European technological resilience. Industrial participation plays a key role in ensuring that research activities are informed by real‑world application needs.

CEA‑Leti and GF have partnered for more than two decades on PD‑SOI and FD‑SOI technologies across multiple technology generations. Their long‑standing cooperation has contributed to the maturation of FD‑SOI as a differentiated technology option for applications requiring an optimized balance of performance, power efficiency and cost.

One outcome of this partnership is GF's FDX platform, introduced in 2018 and developed at GF's Dresden, Germany site. Based on FD‑SOI technology, GF's 22FDX delivers performance comparable to 14/16nm FinFET nodes for many workloads, while enabling lower power consumption and inherent radiation tolerance. These characteristics make it well‑suited for a broad range of applications, including mobile and consumer devices, automotive microcontrollers, satellite communications, edge AI and emerging computing architectures.

FD‑SOI technologies have also been adopted in demanding environments, including space and other high‑reliability applications, where power efficiency, variability control and robustness are critical.

GF's participation in the FAMES Pilot Line, as an end user of its early‑stage research, is focused on advancing FD‑SOI capabilities. This includes exploratory work on device enhancements, as well as collaboration on next‑generation substrate innovations, including strained silicon concepts developed within the framework of FAMES and in related programs involving Soitec. These efforts are intended to extend the performance and energy efficiency of FD‑SOI for future application needs.

Beyond next-generation FDX devices, GF and CEA-Leti are leveraging the FAMES Pilot Line to advance a broader set of FDX- based programs spanning RF design for 5G/6G power amplifiers, embedded non-volatile memory that will address compute-in-memory for edge AI, ultra-low-power bio-medical wearables, and cybersecure components. Both GF and CEA-Leti also see FAMES as a natural path toward 3D heterogeneous integration on future FDX generations, reinforcing FD-SOI as Europe's most versatile platform for sovereign, energy-efficient silicon.

FD‑SOI is widely recognized as a European‑led technology, built through sustained cooperation between research institutes and industry. Through initiatives such as the FAMES Pilot Line, CEA‑Leti and its partners continue to advance foundational technologies that support long‑term competitiveness, energy‑efficient computing and European technological sovereignty.