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Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has tapped the manufacturer to support all Applied Materials wafer processing systems at Tower’s Fab 2 manufacturing facility in Migdal HaEmek, Israel. The two companies have entered into a five-year support agreement that will see Applied’s Performance Service program made available to Tower, offering committed system uptime at a low cost that varies with factory loading.

The agreement stipulates that Applied will service all of Tower’s Applied Materials tools in Fab 2, such as CVD*, PVD, etch, metrology, RTP, CMP and epitaxial deposition systems. Services on offer through Applied’s Performance Service include support to perform preventive and corrective maintenance, spare parts management, parts cleaning and coating, and analytical services.

“By leveraging Applied’s unmatched infrastructure, technology and global expertise we expect to realize substantial cost and operating efficiencies,” said Shimon Dahan, Senior Vice President of Tower’s worldwide operations. “We’re relying on Applied to maximize tool performance and optimize maintenance cost at any load level, enabling us to focus on delivering world-class CMOS and mixed-signal foundry services to our customers while remaining competitive even when demand fluctuates.”