Intel didn’t purchase Tower but will continue its collaborative 300mm production
China stopped the merger but won’t prevent any collaborations.
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What you need to know
The attemptedacquisition of Tower Semiconductor by Intelwas tanked by regulators in China and dissolved in August, but the companies will not be parting ways. Instead, they have agreed to support each other in the future. According to apress releasefrom Intel, sourced from areport by Tom’s Hardware, Intel will provide Tower with foundry services and its 300mm manufacturing capacity.
In addition to expanding Tower’s foundry footprint, Intel will also manufacture Tower’s 65-nanometer power management bipolar-CMOS-DMOS flows at Intel’s Fab 11X plant in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The agreement is not one-sided, as Tower will invest up to $300 million to acquire and own equipment and other assets for its own New Mexico facility that will provide a new capacity corridor of more than 600,000 photo layers per month.
This collaboration with Intel allows us to fulfill our customers’ demand roadmaps, with a particular focus on advanced power management and radio frequency silicon on insulator (RF SOI) solutions, with full process flow qualification planned in 2024.
The increased capacity will accommodate customer demands for 300 mm advanced analog processing. Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services, Stuart Pann, also prepared a statement about the agreement:
“We launched Intel Foundry Services with a long-term view of delivering the world’s first open system foundry that brings together a secure, sustainable, and resilient supply chain with the best of Intel and our ecosystem. We’re thrilled that Tower sees the unique value we provide and chose us to open their 300 mm U.S. capacity corridor.”
Intel is preparing its 15th Gen chips, dubbed ‘Arrow Lake,’ which areexpected to offer significant performance boostsover the recently refreshed Raptor Lake series. The manufacturer has been instrumental in supporting theCHIPS and Science Act, passed in the U.S. in 2022.
The act was an effort to return the manufacturing of semiconductors and processing chips to the U.S. that took root following severe shortages that affected its infrastructure and military defense efforts. Intel and Tower Semiconductors will both be focusing their manufacturing expansions in the United States.
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Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She’s a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.
