Feb 11 (Reuters) - GlobalFoundries GFS.O forecast first-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, bolstered by strong demand for its chips, and announced a $500 million share buyback program, sending its shares up over 7% in premarket trading.

GlobalFoundries has been increasingly shifting to cater to the high-growth artificial intelligence infrastructure sector, making specialized chips that allow data centers to transfer data between each other at high speeds.

In November, the company bought Advanced Micro Foundry, a Singapore-based chipmaker that focuses on silicon photonics, a technology that uses pulses of light to transmit data.

GlobalFoundries said it doubled silicon photonics revenue to over $200 million last year, and expects it to nearly double again this year.

GlobalFoundries forecast first-quarter revenue of $1.63 billion, plus or minus $25 million, compared with estimates of $1.61 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It expects adjusted earnings per share of 35 cents, plus or minus 5 cents, while analysts expect 34 cents.

Revenue for the fourth quarter came in at $1.83 billion, beating estimates of $1.80 billion.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned 55 cents per share, compared with estimates of a profit of 47 cents.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

((Zaheer.Kachwala@thomsonreuters.com;))