Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B • Hacker News Board

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#11

Post by lnsru » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 9:51 AM UTC

When reading headline I was thinking about Intel removing its competitor. Then I searched a bit and found this: “ Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power management, and non-volatile memory as well as MEMS capabilities.”

Looks like that Intel wants to go deeper in foundry business offering more services. I can speculate, that Intel has very good silicon process for logic circuits and will improve their offerings with technology from this acquisition. Sounds like a reasonable strategy to me.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#12

Post by throwaway4good » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 9:54 AM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #10

mhh__ wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> becoming a big player Are you saying they aren't a big player now?

Wouldn't this require them to start making SOCs for mobile phones?

In other words producing for chip designers such as Apple, Qualcomm, or Samsung.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#13

Post by throwaway4good » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:21 AM UTC

lnsru wrote: post #11

When reading headline I was thinking about Intel removing its competitor. Then I searched a bit and found this: “ Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power management, and non-volatile memory as well as MEMS capabilities.” Looks like that…

So it is some kind of complement to Intel's business? By the price Intel is paying compared to Tower's revenue, it really sounds like Intel is paying a lot without being able to add anything?!

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#14

Post by kken » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:23 AM UTC

yvdriess wrote: post #5

the-dude wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment could have been written 50 years ago.

Compare the number of players with leading edge fabs then and now though.

There were no players without fabs back then.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#15

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:35 AM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #12

throwaway4good wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't this require them to start making SOCs for mobile phones?

In other words producing for chip designers such as Apple, Qualcomm, or Samsung.

US-based TSMC.

They have a good chance of succeeding. They are likely to get a lot of government help.

They’ll probably start with older systems, as there’s already a huge need for these, and they have a gazillion existing fabs. It won’t compete with their current lines, and means they don’t need to mothball their legacy fabs.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#16

Post by otherotherchris » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:39 AM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #13

lnsru wrote: post #11

When reading headline I was thinking about Intel removing its competitor. Then I searched a bit and found this: “ Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power management, and non-volatile memory as well as MEMS capabilities.” Looks like that…

So it is some kind of complement to Intel's business? By the price Intel is paying compared to Tower's revenue, it really sounds like Intel is paying a lot without being able to add anything?!

It's somewhat complementary to their Israeli fab business.

They may also think having a multibillion dollar fab investment next to the Golan Heights is safer than having one next to the Gaza strip. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#17

Post by graderjs » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:40 AM UTC

Scooped you by 21 hours: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30344944

I think this comment will be downvoted, but just want to run the experiment to be sure. I'll delete if so .. No worries.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#18

Post by recuter » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 10:41 AM UTC

comboy wrote: post #7

For anyone interested in the topic of semiconductors industry this channel provides some great info and explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbkFAO1oUu8

Also recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lEgJQgAw3g

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#19

Post by throwaway4good » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 11:05 AM UTC

otherotherchris wrote: post #16

throwaway4good wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it is some kind of complement to Intel's business? By the price Intel is paying compared to Tower's revenue, it really sounds like Intel is paying a lot without being able to add anything?!

It's somewhat complementary to their Israeli fab business. They may also think having a multibillion dollar fab investment next to the Golan Heights is safer than having one next to the Gaza strip. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, yeah. A bit to chat about when Pat Gelsinger roams about thrashing TSMC for having their fabs at an insecure location.

Re: Intel to Acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B

#20

Post by nisegami » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 11:16 AM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #19

otherotherchris wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's somewhat complementary to their Israeli fab business. They may also think having a multibillion dollar fab investment next to the Golan Heights is safer than having one next to the Gaza strip. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, yeah. A bit to chat about when Pat Gelsinger roams about thrashing TSMC for having their fabs at an insecure location.

Kinda spooky how much of the cutting edge semiconductor fabs are in disputed territories...