Foundries and fabs are making news again this week, along with the completion of one of the mega-deals announced in 2020 (AMD-Xilinx). As for the one that did not go through (Nvidia-Arm), a recent press report suggest that an Arm IPO will probably mean SoftBank accepting a valuation below the $32 billion it paid for the company in 2016 – and well below the $60 billion expected from the transaction.
Intel to acquire specialty foundry Tower Semiconductor
Confirming rumors, on February 15 Intel announced it will acquire Israel-headquartered foundry Tower Semiconductor for approximately $5.4 billion. With this transaction, Intel aims to create a globally diverse end-to-end foundry offering, bringing together its advanced nodes and scale manufacturing with Tower Semiconductor’s specialty technologies. Tower specializes in the manufacturing of analog semiconductor solutions addressing multiple markets, including aerospace and defense. Its process platforms include SiGe, BiCMOS, mixed-signal/CMOS, RF CMOS, CMOS image sensor, non-imaging sensors, integrated power management (BCD and 700V), and MEMS. The company also provides design enablement and process transfer services. Tower Semiconductor owns two manufacturing facilities in Israel (150mm and 200mm), two in the U.S. (200mm), three facilities in Japan (two 200mm and one 300mm) which it owns through its 51% holdings in TPSCo and is sharing a 300mm manufacturing facility being established in Italy with STMicroelectronics.
Tower Semiconductor headquarter in Israel. Credit: Tower Semiconductor
