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TowerJazz to acquire Micron’s 200mm fab in Japan: almost doubles capacity
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Specialist IC foundry, TowerJazz is to acquire Micron Technology’s 200mm facility in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo, Japan at a cost of approximately US$140 million. TowerJazz will pay US$40 million in cash and issue approximately 20 million ordinary shares to fund the deal. The proposed purchase would nearly double TowerJazz’s current manufacturing capacity by 60,000 wafers per month.
As part of the proposed acquisition, the companies anticipate a supply agreement will be put into affect for TowerJazz to manufacture products for Micron at the Japan facility for approximately the next three years.
“Previously, I’ve had many detailed interactions with the Micron R&D and operational groups when I held a position with a semiconductor equipment manufacturer,” said Russell Ellwanger, TowerJazz Chief Executive Officer. “The acquisition of a fab in Japan would be a strategic move by TowerJazz to enter the Japanese market and strengthen our presence in the Asia-Pacific region through local, high quality manufacturing capabilities and, in addition, would provide us with needed, large scale incremental capacity.”
TowerJazz said that the Nishiwaki fab is able to support geometries down to 95nm and can also be used to manufacture other products using TowerJazz process technologies. The foundry said it has plans to quickly qualify its core power management platforms to serve its Korean customers and then build high end RF capabilities at the facility.
