GlobalFoundries and Qualinx turn European chip sovereignty from ambition into execution
On 10 June 2026, GlobalFoundries (GF) and Dutch semiconductor company Qualinx announced the successful completion of what they describe as Europe's first fully sovereign end-to-end manufacturing flow for security-critical semiconductors at GF's manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany. In an exclusive interview with MoveTheNeedle.news, Qualinx CEO Tom Trill said the project demonstrates that trusted European semiconductor production can now be deployed for commercial products rather than remaining a future ambition.
Chips intended for aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure applications can now be designed, manufactured and delivered through a trusted European production chain. For policymakers and industry leaders seeking greater technological sovereignty, it represents a practical demonstration of capabilities that until recently existed largely as strategic objectives.
At the centre of the project is Qualinx's QLX300+, an ultra-low-power Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) system-on-chip designed for secure Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) applications. These technologies underpin everything from military systems and aircraft navigation to telecommunications networks, financial systems, energy grids and other forms of critical infrastructure.
The announcement comes as Europe continues to invest heavily in semiconductor manufacturing and supply-chain resilience through initiatives including the European Chips Act. While much of the public discussion has focused on fabrication capacity, governments are increasingly concerned with where sensitive chip designs, production data and intellectual property are handled throughout the manufacturing process.
A trusted semiconductor manufacturing chain inside Europe
The collaboration focuses on more than manufacturing capacity alone.
According to GlobalFoundries, security-sensitive stages of semiconductor production, including customer design intake, mask services and wafer fabrication, are performed entirely within Europe. Sensitive customer data and physical materials remain within the European Economic Area, while production steps outside Europe are deliberately avoided to satisfy regulatory and security requirements.
For organisations operating in aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure, the approach offers greater control over intellectual property, manufacturing processes and supply-chain traceability.
"We are demonstrating that Europe can rely on a secure, end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing chain that meets the highest aerospace and defence requirements," said Dr Manfred Horstmann, Senior Vice President and General Manager at GlobalFoundries, in a press release on the subject.
"Our collaboration with Qualinx marks the first operational milestone: it proves that complex, security-critical ASIC designs for aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure can already be manufactured today at industrial scale through a fully European, trusted production process."
ASIC stands for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, a chip designed for a dedicated function rather than general-purpose computing.
From Delft spin-out to semiconductor scale-up
Qualinx has spent the past decade developing technologies aimed at one of the industry's persistent challenges: reducing power consumption in wireless connectivity devices.
Founded in 2015 as a spin-out from Delft University of Technology, the company develops ultra-low-power positioning and connectivity semiconductors based on its proprietary Digital Radio Frequency (Digital RF) architecture. Rather than relying heavily on traditional analogue radio-frequency circuitry, Qualinx moves much of that functionality into the digital domain, allowing it to benefit from advances in semiconductor scaling.
The company initially focused on GNSS applications, developing chips intended to deliver positioning and timing capabilities while consuming significantly less power than conventional alternatives. Over time, that expertise has expanded into applications ranging from asset tracking and industrial Internet of Things deployments to critical infrastructure systems.
Its latest collaboration with GlobalFoundries places the company at the intersection of several priorities shaping Europe's technology agenda: semiconductors, energy efficiency, connectivity and technological sovereignty.
Why Qualinx became the first reference project
GlobalFoundries selected Qualinx as the first customer to validate the trusted manufacturing flow using a commercial product rather than a demonstration design.
The choice was not accidental. The two companies have worked together for several years, progressing from early test chips to production-ready devices, said Trill: "They've been by our side on our development journey, first with a test chip, then with two MPWs that set us up for our production device, the QLX300+, which is primed for this trusted production flow."
The collaboration also reflects what Trill sees as growing demand for sovereign semiconductor supply chains.
"There's generally a sense of urgency in the industry to establish sovereign semiconductor supply chains, so given that both GF and Qualinx have the wherewithal to ensure secure flow for real-world, real-time use, it makes perfect sense to avoid unnecessary delays."
The underlying technology partnership also played a role. Qualinx developed the QLX300+ using GlobalFoundries' 22FDX manufacturing platform, a process technology designed to deliver strong radio-frequency performance while maintaining low power consumption.
"The GF 22FDX process is particularly well-suited for RF semiconductors, something that we optimised into our product design. It's a natural combination of process and product, a value validated by our customers."
Why trusted positioning and timing have become strategic priorities
The significance of the project extends beyond semiconductor manufacturing.
Qualinx's QLX300+ is designed for Positioning, Navigation and Timing applications, commonly known as PNT. While often associated with navigation systems, PNT technology plays a critical role in telecommunications networks, financial transactions, power grids, transport systems and emergency services.
As a result, ensuring that positioning and timing data can be trusted has become an increasingly important issue across Europe.
GNSS signals are weak by nature because they travel thousands of kilometres from satellites to receivers on the ground. That makes them vulnerable to interference. Reports of GPS and GNSS jamming and spoofing have increased around Eastern Europe, the Baltic region and areas affected by military conflict. Jamming blocks satellite signals altogether, while spoofing transmits false signals designed to mislead receivers about their location or timing.
For Trill, the demand for trusted technology is closely linked to a wider reassessment of supply-chain resilience: "The precursor to the sovereignty conversation was the supply chain meltdowns experienced during COVID," he said, adding: "A regional or sovereign supply chain mitigates supply chain risk overall. It ensures customers anywhere in the world are buying QLX300+ from a trusted and traceable supply chain."
That focus on trust extends to the chip itself. Qualinx has partnered with the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) to integrate Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) technology into the QLX300+. The authentication capability allows devices to verify that signals received from Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system are genuine rather than spoofed.
Reimagining GNSS for a battery-powered world
The trusted manufacturing flow is only part of the story. Qualinx believes the underlying technology is equally important.
At the centre of the company's approach is its Digital Radio Frequency (Digital RF) architecture, which replaces significant portions of traditional analogue radio circuitry with digital alternatives. The objective is to reduce power consumption while improving flexibility and scalability.
"The most fundamental promise of Qualinx's DRF technology is that we bring RF back in line with Moore's Law," said Trill.
He argues that many existing GNSS products were designed for a different era, one in which power consumption was far less critical than it is today.
"GNSS has fundamentally changed from its legacy roots, which were not as sensitive to power availability. Our competitors' design fundamentals come from that legacy era, while Qualinx's DRF is born to serve the world we now live in, a world where edge power is mission-critical from a hardware perspective, and safety and security equally mission-critical from a connectivity perspective."
The resulting platform is designed for battery-powered edge devices, including asset trackers, industrial systems, wearables and emerging edge AI applications.
Europe's next challenge is scale
The project demonstrates that trusted semiconductor manufacturing can operate within a European framework today. The next question is whether that model can be expanded economically.
GlobalFoundries plans to broaden the programme by integrating additional European intellectual property providers, packaging companies and semiconductor testing partners. Customers from aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure sectors are expected to gain access to the manufacturing flow as part of standard foundry services from 2027 onwards.
For Trill, the biggest challenge is no longer technical feasibility.
"We've always known that a fully onshore supply chain in the EU is possible, but up to now it hasn't been economically viable at scale."
He believes Europe should focus investment on less visible but strategically important parts of the semiconductor ecosystem, particularly testing, packaging and manufacturing infrastructure.
"The EU must deploy strategic capital with more precision and efficiency. Funding core pillars of semiconductor value chains and supply chains has to become a priority."
He also points to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, the specialist tools used to design modern chips, as an area where Europe remains dependent on suppliers outside the continent.
"A near-autonomous, economical-at-scale, full onshore supply chain that also reaches the EDA and tools part of our value chain" remains the long-term objective.
Liked this article? You can support our independent journalism via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. It helps keep MoveTheNeedle.news focused on depth, not clicks.