Great Lakes Semiconductor (GLS) today announced the first project on its Great American ChipForge platform, launched under the company’s Innovation Funnel initiative. The project draws on multiple GLS design centers, ChipForge modular wafer fabrication, and FINPAT packaging and test, demonstrating the company’s distributed, end-to-end integration capabilities in response to strong industry demand for intelligent, AI-enabled sensor solutions for vehicle applications. GLS is collaborating with ecosystem partners across the full project: Neitas and Daikin of Japan on modular fab equipment; BlueDot Ventures, a low-energy sensor specialist whose companies have placed more than one million sensors into commercial service; FMC, an innovator in ferroelectric semiconductor memory; Altascient, which contributes predictive-intelligence-based planning; and Advanced Printed Electronic Solutions (APES), an additive electronics design and platform systems company. Within the FINPAT platform, APES will develop a foundational, additively manufactured package substrate that enables direct heterogeneous packaging of GLS and FMC semiconductors together with multiple sensor devices from BlueDot Ventures. Innovation Funnel Benefits from Integrated Technology and Manufacturing Capabilities According to Dr. Richard Thurston, Chairman & CEO of GLS, the launch of this Innovation Funnel project will demonstrate the seamless end-to-end integration of the ChipForge ecosystem and the value of the Innovation Funnel as a key enabler, where integrated technology and manufacturing capabilities accelerate time-to-market for new products. “We start with innovative concepts at our design centers and quickly turn them into fully packaged prototypes that are ready for production scale,” said Dr. Thurston. “That is possible because the technology blueprints for our manufacturing processes, and for the transition to production scale, are aligned from the start.” Flexible and Modular Wafer Fabrication Technology Supports Multiple Semiconductor Devices At the center of the GLS manufacturing model is ChipForge , a flexible and modular wafer-fabrication platform designed to support multiple semiconductor processes, materials, device architectures and design rules. Its modular configuration enables individual production lines to be tailored for distinct applications, including memory, logic, processors, sensors, power devices and other specialized products serving the automotive, defense, space, healthcare, communications and industrial sectors. ChipForge combines best-in-class fabrication equipment and process technologies whose underlying toolsets and production capabilities have been field-proven across billions of manufactured semiconductor devices. Its configurable architecture allows new process modules, materials and device technologies to be introduced without requiring the wholesale redesign of an entire conventional fabrication facility. This provides customers with a faster and more accessible path from research and device development through prototyping, qualification and commercial production. Dr. Thurston, also an IP specialist, has created a unique, proprietary IP platform that allows active customer collaboration and engagement. Through collaborations with APES and other semiconductor industry participants, GLS intends to connect multiple specialized production lines within a unified, distributed semiconductor manufacturing platform. Each participating line can retain its own technical specialization while operating within a coordinated ecosystem for process development, manufacturing, packaging, testing and supply-chain support. This differentiated fabrication model provides the manufacturing engine beneath the GLS Innovation Funnel , helping move promising technologies from university and corporate research laboratories into prototype fabrication, pilot production and qualified commercial products. Wherever appropriate, processes developed and validated