Monday, April 04, 2011

TowerJazz Buys Micron's Fab in Japan

I haven't seen the official PR yet, but Reuters, Globes, EETimes, and many other sources report that TowerJazz is to acquire Micron's fab in in Nishiwaki City, Japan for $140M in cash and stock transaction ($40M cash plus common stock plus some liabilities). The Micron facility is said to help TowerJazz target Japanese camera companies.

"We will be able to acquire some very good camera companies as end users," Russell Ellwanger, TowerJazz CEO, told Reuters. "We haven't been able to make progress with high-end camera users and having a presence in Japan opens up that opportunity for us." So far Japan only accounts for half a percent of TowerJazz' output.

The proposed purchase of the plant, located 600 km south of Tokyo, would increase TowerJazz production by 80 percent, or 60,000 wafers per month. The facility is said to have not been affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last month.

Update: The official PR at Business Wire says that the Micron's facility can support geometries down to 95nm.

3 comments:

  1. WOW! that is one heck of a deal for Tower!

    what was the cost to build and outfit that fab? $2B?

    under $0.10 on the $. I vote it a "good buy".

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the cost to run it is the true cost here
    I dunno how this would mean for Aptina who has sensors running there now
    So TowerJazz will run Aptina sensors?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous,
    What this means for Aptina…we expect to continue to run image sensor wafers at the Nishiwaki City fab, but the name on the outside of the building will change. Tower’s long history of manufacturing image sensors should ensure the high standards we have come to expect from Micron are maintained.

    Marty
    Aptina

    ReplyDelete

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