This agreement shows how IFS enables access to corridors of manufacturing capacity across Intel’s global factory network, including in the U.S., Europe, Israel and Asia
Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Tower Semiconductor, a foundry for analog semiconductor solutions, today announced an agreement where Intel will provide foundry services and 300mm manufacturing capacity to help Tower serve its customers globally.
Under the agreement, Tower will utilize Intel’s advanced manufacturing facility in New Mexico. Tower will invest up to $300 million to acquire and own equipment and other fixed assets to be installed in the New Mexico facility, providing a new capacity corridor of over 600,000 photo layers per month for Tower’s future growth, enabling capacity to support forecasted customer demand for 300mm advanced analog processing.
This agreement demonstrates the commitment from both Intel and Tower to expand their respective foundry footprints with unparalleled solutions and scaled capabilities. Intel will manufacture Tower’s highly differentiated 65-nanometer power management BCD (bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) flows, among other flows at Intel’s Fab 11X in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Stuart Pann, Intel senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services, said, “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 300mm U.S. capacity corridor.”
This agreement shows how IFS enables access to corridors of manufacturing capacity across Intel’s global factory network, including in the U.S., Europe, Israel and Asia. In addition to existing investments in Oregon and planned investments in Ohio, Intel has been investing and innovating in the Southwest region of the U.S. for more than 40 years, with sites in Arizona and New Mexico. Intel previously announced a $3.5 billion investment to expand operations in New Mexico and equip its Rio Rancho campus, one of its innovation hubs, for the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor packaging.
For Tower, this is the next step in its path to increased scale, serving an expanding customer base in 300mm technologies led by strong market adoption of its industry-leading 65nm BCD power and RF SOI technologies. Specifically, Tower’s 65nm BCD technology offers customers improved power efficiency, die-size and die cost through its best-in-class Rdson figure of merit. Similarly, Tower’s 65nm RF SOI technology helps its customers reduce handset battery consumption while improving wireless connections through its best-in-class RonCoff figure of merit. The increased scale resulting from this agreement will enable Tower not only to serve larger opportunities with existing technologies but also enhance partnerships with industry-leading customers that will help forge strong next-generation technology roadmaps.
IFS has made significant strides over the past year as demonstrated by its more than 300% year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter of 2023. This momentum is further illustrated by Intel’s recent agreement with Synopsys to develop a portfolio of intellectual property on Intel 3 and Intel 18A process nodes.
