President Donald Trumpโ€™s trade and investment agreement with Japan is set to bring up to $21 billion in funding for two new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Malta, upstate New York, marking a major expansion of Americaโ€™s domestic chipmaking capacity. Announced by GlobalFoundries on October 14, 2026, the initiative will see the company operate both facilities, with Japan providing the investment capital and GlobalFoundries contributing its technology and manufacturing expertise. The first factory, a 300-millimeter semiconductor fabrication plant, is expected to begin operations in 2029, while additional funding would support a second facility. The project is projected to generate approximately 27,000 construction and supply-chain jobs, alongside more than 1,000 high-skilled manufacturing positions in New Yorkโ€™s Capital Region. The announcement builds on the Trump administrationโ€™s 2025 trade agreement with Japan, which included a broader Japanese investment commitment of $550 billion in U.S. industries in exchange for reduced American tariffs on Japanese goods.

Beyond employment and construction, the expansion is expected to strengthen U.S. supply chains by adding approximately 900,000 wafers of annual manufacturing capacity per facility once each is fully operational. Semiconductor chips are essential components in automobiles, industrial equipment, communications infrastructure and data centers, making reliable domestic production an important economic and national security priority. GlobalFoundries has also agreed to redirect $955 million from its existing federal CHIPS and Science Act award toward investments in silicon photonics, silicon-germanium technology and advanced packaging at facilities in New York and Vermont. Separately, the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to receive an equity stake of approximately 4% in GlobalFoundries under the announced agreement, allowing the federal government to participate in the companyโ€™s growth. While the investment represents a significant step toward expanding American semiconductor manufacturing, the projected jobs and production capacity will depend on construction progress, financing and the successful completion of both facilities.