Intel confirms, again, its objective to strengthen its role as a manufacturer of chips for third parties. the wall street journal revealed on February 14 that the American company would be about to complete the takeover of Tower Semiconductor for 6 billion dollars. Unless there is an unexpected reversal, the operation should be concluded within the week.
Avant Tower, GlobalFoundries
Tower Semiconductor is an Israeli chipmaker, with factories in its native country, Italy, Japan and the United States. Tower’s semiconductors are not the most advanced on the market, but they are adapted to the expectations of the automotive sector, for the manufacture of industrial or medical equipment.
In the United Kingdom, insurers confirm the success of virtual reality headsets…
The company is valued at $3.6 billion. The revelation of Intel’s interest by the wall street journal caused its share price to jump 49% on the Nasdaq, where it is listed. Intel’s value is around $200 billion.
During the summer of 2021, Intel had attempted a more ambitious operation, proposing 30 billion dollars for GlobalFoundries. Mubadala Investment, the Abu Dhabi investment fund preferred to opt for an IPO.
Intel wants to make the world’s chips
With the arrival of Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s CEO since January 2021, the company has put semiconductors at the center of its business, especially manufacturing. The ongoing shortage, the exponential demand for digital product has reinforced Intel’s ambition to increase its foundry production capacity.
During the year 2021, Intel announced the creation of two factories in Arizona for 20 billion dollars, in January 2022 a new factory is presented in Ohio for the same sum. Pat Gelsinger has proclaimed that the site could eventually host 8 ‘fabs’, for 100 billion dollars of investment in the next decade. Intel also plans to take advantage of the Chips Act in the European Union to set up factories there.
Overtaken by Samsung as a semiconductor giant, Intel aspires to regain industry leadership behind TSMC. Focused until now on the manufacture of chips for its own needs, the American giant, for a year, now wishes to manufacture for others.