Intel to Buy Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion

Intel agreed to acquire Israel’s Tower Semiconductor for about $5.4 billion, part of Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger’s push into the outsourced chip-manufacturing business.

Intel will pay $53 per share in cash for Tower, according to a statement Tuesday. The companies’ boards have approved the transaction, which they expect will close in about 12 months.

Shares of Tower were up 43% during premarket trading in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Intel advanced less than 1% in New York.

Gelsinger, who took the CEO job a year ago, is betting he can compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the chip-foundry market — the contract manufacturing of semiconductors for other companies. His comeback plan for Intel involves modernizing its factories and building new ones aimed at restoring its leadership in chip technology.

With Tower, Intel is acquiring customers and expertise. The chip-foundry industry requires experience in handling different types of chips and designs. Intel has previously had little success in that area because of a lack of commitment to it, Gelsinger has said. Intel’s factories have historically produced only its own designs.

Tower makes power management chips, image sensors and a variety of other semiconductors. Its customers include Analog Devices and Broadcom, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

What the move doesn’t provide is scale. Tower had annual sales of about $1.3 billion last year, a fraction of TSMC’s $56 billion.

Analysts expect TSMC’s sales to grow about 27% in 2022. The Hsinchu-based company, which pioneered the market, accounts for more than 50% of industry revenue and makes chips for many of Intel’s key rivals, a list that includes Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia.

Tower, which is based in northern Israel, was formed from the combination of other companies’ plants, starting in the 1990s. It also owns a factory in Texas.

“This is a big investment cycle for us as a company,” he said in an interview following the earnings report last month. “It is the right one for Intel — it is a critical one for our industry and for our nation.”

Goldman Sachs served as financial adviser to Intel. JPMorgan Chase served as financial adviser to Tower.