GlobalFoundries

GlobalFoundries will lay off 148 employees in Vermont. The layoffs amount to about 7% of the company’s Vermont workforce.

GlobalFoundries will lay off close to 800 employees in coming weeks as the semiconductor company anticipates a downturn in demand for its products.

GlobalFoundries is implementing a hiring freeze and plans to cut its workforce, company leaders told employees in a memo last week. It’s not yet clear whether job cuts will impact the company’s plant in Essex Junction.

The plan is aimed at lowering costs at the $30 billion dollar computer chip corporation’s Essex Junction factory.

GlobalFoundries will use the money to manufacture a new type of semiconductor at its facility in Essex Junction. If the company gets its way, there could soon be much more government money infused into the 65-year-old computer chip plant.

A bill passed by Congress last week will send over $52 billion to domestic computer chip makers. That includes GlobalFoundries, which operates a plant in Essex Junction and is Vermont’s largest private sector employer. The money could lead to more jobs and investment in Vermont.

Semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries submitted a revised proposal Friday to buy electricity for its Essex Junction plant directly from the grid, bringing it in line with Vermont’s renewable energy requirements. But the proposal leaves questions about the plan’s legality.

Semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries says it will move forward with its proposal to become its own electric utility, after state regulators told the company last week that it could not skirt the state’s renewable energy standard.

Vermont utility regulators have ruled that computer chip maker GlobalFoundries can't create its own electric utility that's exempt from the state's renewable energy standards.

For decades, GlobalFoundries’ factory in Essex Junction has pumped out computer chips. With over 2,000 employees, the company is Vermont’s largest private, for-profit employer. Now, there’s a worldwide chip shortage leading to more business for the plant, which has seen its workforce shrink significantly from its heyday. But the company is investing more heavily in a facility over the New York border, leading some local leaders to question the company’s long-term commitment to Vermont.