Intel Is Buying Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 Billion

Intel Corporation (INTC, Financial) and Tower Semiconductor (TSEM, Financial), a leading foundry for analog semiconductor solutions, have announced a definitive agreement under which Intel will acquire Tower for $53 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion.

The acquisition significantly advances Intel’s IDM 2.0 strategy as the company further expands its manufacturing capacity, global footprint and technology portfolio to address unprecedented industry demand, the company said in a statement.

“Tower’s specialty technology portfolio, geographic reach, deep customer relationships and services-first operations will help scale Intel’s foundry services and advance our goal of becoming a major provider of foundry capacity globally,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s CEO. “This deal will enable Intel to offer a compelling breadth of leading-edge nodes and differentiated specialty technologies on mature nodes – unlocking new opportunities for existing and future customers in an era of unprecedented demand for semiconductors.”

Intel’s stock was trading at $48 on Tuesday morning, up 0.92% over the previous day’s close, or $0.44 per share.

As a key part of its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel established Intel Foundry Services (IFS) in March 2021 to help meet the growing global demand for semiconductor manufacturing capacity and to become a major provider of U.S.- and Europe-based foundry capacity to serve customers globally. IFS will offer leading process and packaging technology, committed capacity in the U.S. and Europe and other geographies in the future, putting its broad intellectual property (IP) portfolio to good use.

Tower’s technology and manufacturing footprint are highly complementary to Intel's IFS capabilities in leading-edge processes, allowing the combined company to provide broader offerings to customers at scale. With the addition of Tower, Intel is “strongly positioned to bring more value to customers across the nearly $100 billion addressable foundry market.”

Tower’s expertise in specialty technologies, such as radio frequency (RF), power, silicon-germanium (SiGe) and industrial sensors, extensive IP and electronic design automation (EDA) partnerships and established foundry footprint will provide broad coverage to both Intel and Tower’s customers globally.

Tower serves high-growth markets such as mobile, automotive and power. Tower operates a geographically complementary foundry presence with facilities in the U.S. and Asia, serving fabless companies as well as IDMs,and offers more than 2 million wafer starts per year of capacity – including growth opportunities in Texas, Israel, Italy and Japan. Tower also brings a foundry-first customer approach with an industry-leading customer support portal and IP storefront, as well as design services and capabilities.

“With a rich history, Tower has built an incredible range of specialty analog foundry solutions based upon deep customer partnerships, with worldwide manufacturing capabilities. I could not be prouder of the company and of our talented and dedicated employees,” said Russell Ellwanger, Tower's CEO, in the statement. “Together with Intel, we will drive new and meaningful growth opportunities and offer even greater value to our customers through a full suite of technology solutions and nodes and a greatly expanded global manufacturing footprint. We look forward to being an integral part of Intel’s foundry offering.”

Intel is the only leading-edge semiconductor player with both research and development and manufacturing in the U.S. It recently announced capacity expansions in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as plans to build a new mega-site in Ohio.