Andrew Cunningham
Intel has agreed to spend $5.four billion to purchase Tower Semiconductor, an Israeli foundry that focuses on specialty processes to make chips for imaging, energy management, and wireless communications.
The acquisition is Intel’s most recent move to add capacity and clients to its new foundry division, which focuses on producing chips for other businesses. CEO Pat Gelsinger is betting that by expanding capacity and producing additional semiconductors—not just its own—his business can claw its way get back to the leading edge. Today, just two firms, TSMC and Samsung, make the world’s most sophisticated chips.
“Tower’s specialty technologies portfolio, geographic attain, deep client relationships and solutions-initial operations will enable scale Intel’s foundry solutions and advance our aim of becoming a significant provider of foundry capacity globally,” Gelsinger mentioned in a statement.
Intel and Tower mentioned they anticipate the transaction to be completed in about a year supplied that it gets authorized by regulators.
Tower runs 5 fabs itself—two in Israel, two in the US, and a single in Italy—and yet another 3 in Japan with Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan.
Intel has been aggressively pursuing its “IDM two.0” tactic with a string of announcements and acquisitions. Last week it announced that it was investing in some key technologies, which includes RISC-V, in an try to obtain industry share in the low-energy and embedded markets. Last month, it announced a $20 billion “megafab” in Ohio that will start out producing chips in 2025. And final fall, Intel announced yet another $20 billion investment in Arizona, exactly where it is adding two additional fabs to its Ocotillo campus.
Keyword: Intel buys Tower Semiconductor for $5.four billion to diversify foundry business