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Engineering the future of semiconductor manufacturing with Cisco IQ

Discover how GlobalFoundries achieved continuous production and digital resilience by transforming their network infrastructure into a high-performance, AI-driven nervous system.

GlobalFoundries builds digital resilience with Cisco IQ

As a global semiconductor leader, GlobalFoundries needed to modernize its critical infrastructure to support non-stop production while eliminating manual operational complexities and security risks.

About GlobalFoundries

GlobalFoundries (GF) is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors that power the technologies the world relies on to live, work, and connect. They innovate and collaborate with customers to deliver power-efficient, high-performance solutions for automotive, smart mobile devices, Internet of Things, communications infrastructure, and other high-growth markets. With a global manufacturing footprint across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, GF is a trusted partner for customers worldwide.

Challenges

As GlobalFoundries scaled, their legacy WAN began to struggle under the weight of modern, data-intensive manufacturing requirements. The infrastructure was aging, creating bottlenecks that threatened the agility required to maintain a global footprint. The risk was clear: any network instability could lead to production halts, resulting in significant financial impact and supply chain disruption.

  • High-stakes downtime: With planned maintenance windows being rare, any unplanned downtime results in severe financial and production consequences.
  • Manual complexity: Managing a massive, distributed asset inventory required days or weeks of manual data aggregation, hindering strategic agility.
  • Security vulnerabilities: Fragmented visibility made it difficult to identify and mitigate critical security threats proactively.
  • Scalability bottlenecks: The existing WAN struggled to support the data-intensive requirements of modern, high-precision manufacturing.

 

Solutions

GF partnered with Cisco Services to build a foundation of digital resilience leveraging Cisco IQ, a unified, AI-driven digital experience designed to transform IT operations from reactive troubleshooting to proactive, predictive management. It integrates Cisco's support and professional services into a single interface, utilizing agentic AI to provide personalized insights, automated actions, and intelligent asset management for secure, optimized technology lifecycle management.
 
  • Cisco IQ integration: Leveraging Cisco IQ to gain real-time, AI-driven visibility into asset health, lifecycle status, and vulnerability mapping.
  • Cisco SD-WAN deployment: A massive, high-stakes overhaul of the existing WAN, executed by Cisco Professional Services with zero impact on production.
  • Full-spectrum services: Transitioning to a "proven model" for success by combining Cisco Professional Services for design and implementation with Cisco Managed Services for day-to-day operations.
  • Proactive lifecycle management: Using Cisco IQ to automate the identification of end-of-support devices, enabling a phased, precision-based modernization strategy.

Outcomes

Shift to proactive management

Transformed IT operations from reactive firefighting to proactive, strategic lifecycle management.

Operational efficiency

Reduced manual data aggregation time from days to minutes, allowing the team to focus on high-value strategic initiatives.

Targeted vulnerability mitigation

Minimized operational disruption by using inventory-based analysis to identify and patch vulnerabilities with precision.

Enhanced digital resilience

Achieved a future-ready architecture capable of self-healing and scaling to support continuous innovation.

    Engineering the future of semiconductor manufacturing 

    In the world of semiconductor fabrication, precision is everything. GlobalFoundries (GF) operates at the cutting edge of technology, but as their manufacturing requirements grew, their existing infrastructure needed to be modernized.  With production floors running continuously, the network became the critical link between raw materials and finished silicon. Any instability in that link could lead to production halts, resulting in significant financial impact.

    "For us, the network is not merely an IT utility; it is the digital nervous system of our production floor,” says Scott Gibbons, Sr Mgr/Dep Director IT Network Security & Observability at GlobalFoundries. "We needed a partner who could deliver a massive, high-stakes implementation without a single second of downtime. That is exactly what we achieved through our partnership with Cisco."

    Modernizing infrastructure for enhanced digital resilience

    By deploying Cisco SD-WAN, they replaced legacy constraints with a flexible, high-performance fabric. However, the modernization did not stop at the WAN. To maintain this new standard of digital resilience, GF integrated Cisco IQ into their operational strategy.

    Cisco IQ serves as the intelligence layer for their infrastructure. By providing real-time, AI-driven visibility into their entire asset inventory, Cisco IQ allows the GF team to identify devices nearing their end-of-support date and pinpoint vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. What once required weeks of manual effort is now handled in minutes, allowing the team to reallocate their expertise toward innovation rather than routine maintenance.

    Building a secure and resilient future

    By combining the power of Cisco IQ with the expertise of Cisco Professional and Managed Services, GlobalFoundries has created a blueprint for the future. As they continue to modernize their firewall, remote access, and LAN core infrastructure, they are ensuring that their production environment remains a secure, high-availability engine for their business. In an industry where the stakes are high and the pace of change is accelerating, GlobalFoundries is proving that with the right intelligence and infrastructure, digital resilience is not just a goal - it is a reality.

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