Intel is now acquiring Israeli microchip manufacturer Tower Semiconductor in hopes of ramping up production to meet increased demands due to the global shortage.
According to the tech company’s announcement, the new deal costs roughly $5.4 billion USD at $53 USD per share in cash. The acquisition will not only increase Intel’s production capacity of its own semiconductors but also provide aid to its Intel Foundry Services division, which manufactures microchips for third-party clients.
“Tower’s specialty technology portfolio, geographic reach, deep customer relationships and services-first operations will help scale Intel’s foundry services and advance our goal of becoming a major provider of foundry capacity globally,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. “This deal will enable Intel to offer a compelling breadth of leading-edge nodes and differentiated specialty technologies on mature nodes – unlocking new opportunities for existing and future customers in an era of unprecedented demand for semiconductors.”
Intel’s acquisition of Tower Semiconductor also comes shortly after its main competition AMD also bought out another chipmaker Xilinx for a whopping $50 billion USD.
Elsewhere in the tech industry, Meta is paying $90 million USD to settle a data privacy lawsuit from 2012.