GloFo is to spend $3bn on fab in Singapore, New York and Dresden this year, according to its CEO, Ajit Manocha, which is well down on the $5.4bn it spent in 2011.
Although the industry as a whole will spend less on fab in 2012 than in 2011, GloFo's investment is expected to be less than half what foundry rivals TSMC and Samsung will be spending.
The company had planned to start building a multi-billion dollar fab in Abu Dhabi this year but postponed the project, saying it needed to bring the plant up in tandem with customer demand.
Manocha reckons the foundry industry will grow 5-6% this year.
He says the company will start bringing up a 20nm line at its New York fab this year where it started production of 32nm ICs earlier this month.
