Analyst(s): Brendan Burke
Publication Date: March 12, 2026
SkyWater’s CEO Thomas Sonderman positions the company’s 2025 performance as momentum and uses it to reinforce a long-term focus on trusted domestic manufacturing and a Technology-as-a-Service operating model. The announcement reframes mature node and packaging capacity as strategic infrastructure for quantum and other mission-critical markets rather than as legacy capability.
What is Covered in This Article:
- SkyWater’s strategic positioning update
- Trusted domestic manufacturing and independence
- Technology-as-a-Service operating discipline
- Quantum and advanced packaging emphasis
- “Quantum Foundry” category framing
The News: SkyWater’s CEO Thomas Sonderman wrote a letter describing the company’s fiscal year 2025 results and defining its role as a US-based semiconductor foundry focused on trusted supply for critical industries. The letter reports record fiscal year 2025 revenue of $442.1 million, year-over-year growth of 29%, and adjusted EBITDA of $53.2 million, described as a 57% increase over the prior year. The CEO letter states SkyWater’s Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS) model remains unchanged and emphasizes operational firewalls intended to keep customer intellectual property protected and compartmentalized. The letter highlights scaling efforts and strategic focus areas, including advanced packaging and quantum computing, with eight active quantum customer programs in FY 2025 and quantum-related ATS revenue growth of over 30% for the year. It also states that advanced packaging facilitization in Florida progressed ahead of plan in Q4 FY 2025 and that both ATS and Tools revenue exceeded earlier expectations. The letter notes the acquisition of Infineon’s Fab 25 in Austin, Texas, completed June 30, 2025, as a major expansion move.
SkyWater’s CEO Letter Redefines the US Foundry Model
Analyst Take: Sonderman’s letter is less a quarterly wrap-up than a positioning statement about where strategic value sits in semiconductors as compute roadmaps become packaging-led and security-sensitive. The narrative centers on trusted domestic manufacturing and a services-oriented model that translates innovation into manufacturable output while preserving customer compartmentalization. In that framing, mature nodes are presented as critical infrastructure for defense, energy, automotive, industrial, and emerging quantum-related deployments rather than as end-of-life capacity. We view these capabilities as shaping the emerging “Quantum Foundry” segment that drives quantum commercialization with cryogenic packaging, specialized FDSOI CMOS processes, and strict security requirements.
Advanced Packaging Becomes the Strategic Control Point
The letter’s emphasis on advanced packaging treats it as the layer that determines whether system-level performance, size, and robustness improvements can be realized. By describing domestic advanced packaging capacity as limited and vulnerable, SkyWater implicitly shifts the competitive discussion from wafer starts alone to end-to-end onshore enablement. The Florida facility update is presented as a concrete step to expand packaging capability within the company’s Advanced Technology Services (ATS) model, tying packaging to manufacturability and execution cadence. We believe that the US remains strategically exposed if ATS and packaging are offshore-dependent even when domestic fab capacity increases. That exposure will grow as quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) converge on advanced packaging requirements. The implication is that packaging capacity will solidify SkyWater’s role in the national security supply chain.
Mature Nodes Will Be Recast as Mission-Critical Infrastructure
SkyWater’s message argues that established semiconductor nodes are not “legacy” in the pejorative sense, but foundational for high-reliability applications. This reframing targets a common market assumption that strategic relevance tracks only with leading-edge nodes, especially in public narratives about domestic manufacturing. The letter ties the value of proven technologies to use cases such as “vehicle brakes, aircraft guidance, factory automation, and surgical sensors,” which prioritize reliability and trusted sourcing. As a result, we believe policy and investment should reflect the post–Moore’s Law shift in strategic value toward packaging and specialized manufacturing capabilities. With the adaptation of mature processes to emerging high-performance computing requirements, critical industries can scale on proven platforms. SkyWater is refocusing the foundry conversation from “catch up at the leading edge” to “secure the infrastructure that actually ships into critical systems.”
The TaaS Model Positions Security and Compartmentalization as Differentiators
The letter repeatedly ties SkyWater’s Technology-as-a-Service model to operational discipline around intellectual property (IP) protection and compartmentalization. Rather than treating security as a compliance layer, the language makes it part of the product delivered to customers who need trusted, US-based manufacturing. The briefing’s “Quantum Foundry” definition adds specificity by stating that extreme security and compartmentalization requirements are intrinsic to the category. That combination suggests SkyWater is leaning into a differentiated value proposition where process enablement, packaging, and secure operational boundaries are delivered together. This matters because quantum-adjacent work can involve sensitive architectures, materials, and government-linked programs where disclosure boundaries are themselves a gating factor. The implication is that SkyWater is competing on system trust and execution environment as much as on technical capability.
Quantum Programs Signal a Services-Led Commercialization Path
The letter’s quantum references emphasize active customer programs and growth in quantum-related ATS revenue, demonstrating continued support for a robust quantum ecosystem even after SkyWater’s announced acquisition by IonQ. The stated breadth of “diverse quantum approaches” suggests the company aims to be modality-agnostic at the manufacturing enablement layer. Our view is that a new “Quantum Foundry” model is emerging that builds on packaging, specialized nodes, and security needs for the new qubit processing units needed to scale quantum. In that context, SkyWater’s strategic relevance lies in its ability to translate prototypes into scalable, secure, US-based production pathways. It also connects quantum’s manufacturability challenges to the same packaging-led dynamics reshaping advanced compute. SkyWater presents quantum as an extension of its process integration services and trusted manufacturing posture, not as a separate moonshot business.
What to Watch:
- The progression of quantum innovators transitioning logical qubit designs from R&D to commercial production via Quantum Foundries
- Whether US-based advanced packaging can scale to support critical industries
- How the convergence of quantum and AI technologies redefines manufacturing and security requirements
See the full press release on SkyWater’s news announcement on the company’s website.
Disclosure: Futurum is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum as a whole.
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Author Information
Brendan is Research Director, Semiconductors, Supply Chain, and Emerging Tech. He advises clients on strategic initiatives and leads the Futurum Semiconductors Practice. He is an experienced tech industry analyst who has guided tech leaders in identifying market opportunities spanning edge processors, generative AI applications, and hyperscale data centers.
Before joining Futurum, Brendan consulted with global AI leaders and served as a Senior Analyst in Emerging Technology Research at PitchBook. At PitchBook, he developed market intelligence tools for AI, highlighted by one of the industry’s most comprehensive AI semiconductor market landscapes encompassing both public and private companies. He has advised Fortune 100 tech giants, growth-stage innovators, global investors, and leading market research firms. Before PitchBook, he led research teams in tech investment banking and market research.
Brendan is based in Seattle, Washington. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Amherst College.
