Recently, Laurent Malier, Executive Vice President of Global Technology R&D at STMicroelectronics (ST), announced that the company plans to leverage its 300mm Fully Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (FD-SOI) process technology to enter the quantum chip foundry business, aiming to become a key enabler of the quantum computing industry. This strategic pivot signals that the European semiconductor giant is extending its decade-long FD-SOI technical expertise in mature process nodes into quantum chip manufacturing—a domain widely regarded as the next core direction of computing.

The Crolles Facility

ST operates a 300mm semiconductor fabrication plant in Crolles, France, equipped with a fully proprietary FD-SOI production process. This end-to-end mastery—from technology development through manufacturing execution—provides the essential foundation required for quantum chips to transition from laboratory environments to industrial-volume production. Moving beyond the traditional phase of merely validating quantum device feasibility, ST seeks to advance the industry into a system-level development paradigm that is manufacturable, reliable, and scalable.

FD-SOI Technology

The FD-SOI process forms an ultra-thin silicon channel atop an insulating layer, effectively suppressing leakage current while enabling precise control of performance and power consumption. These attributes precisely match the rigorous requirements of silicon-based quantum chips for stability, precision, and reproducibility. Among the various technical routes in quantum computing, silicon spin qubit-based approaches are considered one of the most commercially promising paths, as they can directly utilize existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure. ST's decision to adopt FD-SOI as its entry point is grounded in the technology's outstanding performance in isolating single-electron qubits, as well as its mature Lab-to-Fab translation experience.

Ecosystem Positioning: From Quobly to Samsung

As early as December 2024, ST forged a strategic partnership with Quobly, a French quantum computing startup, to manufacture Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) using a commercial 28nm FD-SOI process. The alliance targets the introduction of first-generation commercial products by 2027, with an ambitious goal of breaking the one-million-qubit threshold by 2031.

Concurrently, ST's long-standing technology alliance with Samsung Electronics in the FD-SOI space provides expansive ecosystem backing for its quantum foundry initiative. The two parties have collaborated on FD-SOI technology development since 2014, recently extending their joint efforts to the 18nm node. By combining embedded memory with advanced packaging technologies, they jointly serve high-reliability markets such as automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), and aerospace. Through its synergy with ST, Samsung not only solidifies its standing in the ultra-low-power MCU foundry segment but also establishes a foundation for extending FD-SOI technology into cutting-edge domains including quantum computing.

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