• FMC and GLS combine complementary technologies, commercialization capabilities and ecosystem relationships across Germany, North America, and globally

• Partnership aims to accelerate the path from semiconductor R&D and prototyping to commercial-scale manufacturing
  

• GLS founder and CEO brings exceptional industry network and sector expertise as former SVP and General Counsel of TSMC

DRESDEN, Germany — October 21, 2026 — FMC, a Dresden-based leading semiconductor and memory technology company, and Great Lakes Semiconductor (GLS), a New York–based technology and semiconductor company focused on accelerating the commercialization of emerging technologies, today announced a strategic partnership to strengthen semiconductor innovation, commercialization, and resilient supply chains across the United States, Germany, and the broader transatlantic ecosystem. Through this collaboration, GLS founder and CEO Dr. Richard L. Thurston brings extensive sector expertise from his time at TSMC in Taiwan.

The partnership combines FMC’s advanced memory technologies and semiconductor expertise with GLS’s capabilities in rapid design and prototyping, small-scale manufacturing, AM/3D packaging, and technology commercialization. Together, FMC and GLS aim to strengthen the pathway from semiconductor research and development to volume production, all under the GLS Innovation Funnel™, helping bridge one of the industry’s most persistent challenges: translating promising technologies into commercially scalable products.

The companies intend to collaborate across the full pathway from semiconductor research and technology development to commercial manufacturing. As semiconductor production becomes increasingly concentrated in large-scale manufacturing facilities, access to prototyping, pilot production, packaging and testing capabilities has become a growing challenge for emerging technologies. FMC and GLS aim to help bridge this gap by creating a more efficient pathway from innovation and validation to commercial deployment. The companies will also explore opportunities to expand future semiconductor innovation and prototyping capabilities in Germany, and leverageSaxony’s position as one of Europe’s leading semiconductor clusters.

A key initial focus of the partnership will be the enablement of GLS’s ChipForge™ platform, which is designed to support activities such as rapid design and prototyping, engineering validation and pilot manufacturing. The companies will evaluate opportunities to leverage this capability to accelerate FMC’s technology roadmap and support additional semiconductor programs. The partnership alsoreflects GLS’s broader vision of rebuilding the innovation ecosystem required to bring emerging semiconductor technologies from research to commercial scale.

In conceptualizing and building GLS, Dr. Richard L. Thurston draws on extensive experience gained at Texas Instruments and TSMC, Taiwan, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for more than a decade, overseeing intellectual property, compliance, M&A and joint venture activities. Following his tenure, he continued to advise TSMC founder Dr. Morris Chang through 2017. These experiences shaped his belief that the semiconductor industry needs a renewed innovationecosystem, similar to the one that supported TSMC’s growth and leadership during 2001-2017, and adistributed network capable of translating breakthrough technologies into commercial-scale manufacturing.

“Innovation alone is not enough. The semiconductor industry also needs efficient pathways that move technologies from the laboratory to commercial deployment,” said Thomas Rueckes, CEO of FMC. “Our partnership with Great Lakes Semiconductor brings together complementary strengths across technology development, manufacturing readiness, and ecosystem building. Together, we aim to accelerate commercialization and strengthen the transatlantic semiconductor value chain.”

“Over the past decade, the semiconductor industry has become exceptionally effective at manufacturing chips at scale. What is often missing is the capability to help promising technologies navigate the critical stages between research, prototyping and volume production,” added Dr. Richard L. Thurston, Founder and CEO of Great Lakes Semiconductor. “By combining FMC’s and GLS’s technological capabilities, we aim to create a more efficient environment for innovation and help accelerate the commercialization of next-generation semiconductor technologies across the United States and Europe. Our distributed, end-to-end business model will not only enable a platform on which FMC can experiment with its ferroelectric memory devices but also serve as an Innovation Funnel™ for FMC’s future high-volume memory production.”

About FMC
FMC is a leading memory chip and solutions company based in Dresden, Germany. The company has created a new class of memory technology with its persistent nvDRAM+ and high–density Cache+ for more sustainable, faster, and cost-efficient systems. Thanks to its extremely low power consumption, the technology significantly reduces the energy demand of AI data centers, laying the foundation for their scale-up in Europe and worldwide. For more information, visit FMC | Persistent DRAM+ & Cache+ Hybrid Memory for AI Efficiency

Media contact FMC
Torben Gosau, Kekst CNC
torben.gosau@kekstcnc.com
+49 (0) 160 969 435 17