Tower Semiconductor Signs and Closes Credit Agreements for the Execution of its Capacity Ramp-Up Plan for Fab2
- Definitive Agreements Secure $60 Million of Credit Lines
- Commences to execute Significant Capacity Expansion Plan in advanced technologies in a cost effective manner
MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel - September 10, 2007 - Tower Semiconductor Ltd., a pure-play independent specialty foundry, today announced that it has closed definitive agreements with its lender banks, Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim, and with Israel Corporation, a major shareholder, to secure $60 million of credit lines, comprised of $30 million from the Banks and $30 million from Israel Corporation. These definitive agreements are based on the terms of the previously announced letters of intent.
The credit lines, together with the, approximately, $40 million that were raised in June 2007 through the issuance of long-term bonds, are to be used for the execution of the Company's ramp-up plan. This expansion plan will increase significantly Fab2 capacity beyond the current 24,000 wafers per month, primarily in advanced technologies, as was initially announced on July 16, 2007.
"Fab2 continues to run at a utilization rate of higher than 90%, with customer forecasted demand exceeding the current capacity level", said Russell Ellwanger, chief executive officer of Tower Semiconductor. "In order to meet this demand, we have commenced the execution of the ramp-up plan which, when completed, will further increase the potential of our sales, cash flow and operational results, with a fast pay-back-period and a high rate of return-on-investment (ROI). We have placed purchase orders for a portion of the manufacturing tools and are in the final stages of negotiation with several equipment suppliers for the complete current set of tools for this stage of the expansion plan. The tools are predominantly used equipment originating from certain integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), such as AMD and Intel 200 millimeter copper manufacturing facilities. This enables us to purchase the manufacturing tools at low prices, as compared to purchasing them from the original equipment manufacturers. We expect the equipment to roll into Fab2 during the coming few quarters, with the first tools arriving next month".
About Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is a pure-play independent specialty wafer foundry established in 1993. The company manufactures integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13-micron; it also provides complementary technical services and design support. In addition to digital CMOS process technology, Tower offers advanced non-volatile memory solutions, mixed-signal & RF-CMOS, and CMOS image-sensor technologies. To provide world-class customer service, the company maintains two manufacturing facilities, each with standard and specialized process technology processes: Fab 1 ranging from 1.0 to 0.35 and Fab 2 featuring 0.18 and 0.13-micron. Tower's web site is located at http://www.towersemi.com.
|
Related News
- Tower Announces Plan to Further Ramp Up its Fab 2 Capacity
- Tower Announces Plan to Ramp Up Capacity of Fab 2 by Approximately 50%
- Silicon Logic Engineering Launches ASICBlaster Chip Design Services Solution to Facilitate Semiconductor Industry Ramp-Up
- Tower Semiconductor Continues Execution of $60 Million per Year Cost Reduction Plan
- Tower Semiconductor Signs Definitive Agreement for Up to $60 Million in Funding
Breaking News
- PUFsecurity Unveils Next-Gen Crypto Coprocessor PUFcc7 Featuring High-speed Performance and TLS 1.3 Support
- VeriSilicon's complete Bluetooth Low Energy IP solution is fully compliant with LE Audio specification
- TASKING and Andes Announce FuSa Compliant Compiler Support for Andes RISC-V ASIL Compliant Automotive IP
- Efabless Launches an "AI Wake Up Call" Open-Source Silicon Design Challenge
- Efinix Rolls Out Line of FPGAs to Accelerate and Adapt Automotive Designs and Applications
Most Popular
- Qualitas Semiconductor and Ambarella Sign Licensing Agreement
- ZeroPoint Technologies Signs Global Customer to Bring Hardware-Accelerated Compression to Hyperscale Data Centers
- Chiplet Interconnect Pioneer Eliyan Closes $60 Million Series B Funding Round, Co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Tiger Global Management to Address Most Pressing Challenge in Development of Generative AI Chips
- Intel and Arm Team Up to Power Startups
- Alphawave Semi and InnoLight Collaborate to Demonstrate Low Latency Linear Pluggable Optics with PCIe 6.0® Subsystem Solution for High-Performance AI Infrastructure at OFC 2024
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |