By Mark LaPedus
Isreal’s Tower Semiconductor, a foundry vendor, is expanding its 300mm fab capacity in an effort to meet demand for its silicon photonics and other process technologies.
Tower plans to assume control of one 300mm fab from a joint venture partner in Japan, with potential plans to expand its capacity in the same location.
As part of the plan, Tower and Taiwan’s Nuvoton Technology have restructured their joint fab venture in Japan. Based in Hsinchu, Nuvoton sells various chips and provides foundry services in a 150mm fab in Taiwan.
The Tower- Nuvoton fab venture is called Tower Partners Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (TPSCo). TPSCo, headquartered in Japan, is a Japanese corporation in which Tower holds a 51% equity interest and Nuvoton Technology Corp. Japan (NTCJ) holds the remaining 49% equity interest.
TPSCo provides wafer processing and assembly services and currently operates a 300mm fab in Uozu, Japan, and a 200mm fabrication facility in Tonami, Japan. Tower provides foundry services in both fabs in the joint venture.
Now, under the new framework agreement, upon closing of the transaction, Tower will gain full ownership and operational control of TPSCo’s 300mm fab (Fab 7) and foundry business in Uozu. The 300mm fab is a 65nm facility, which produces RFSOI chips, power management ICs, sensors and silicon photonics.
Under the new structure, Tower’s new wholly owned subsidiary in Japan will own all Fab 7 (300mm) manufacturing production tools, operations, employees and business activities. As part of the agreement, Tower has an option to purchase the existing Fab 7 building and land.
TPSCo’s 200mm fab and foundry business will remain within TPSCo, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of NTCJ, for consideration of a $25 million payment by NTCJ to Tower on the closing date. The 200mm fab is a 0.35μm to 0.15μm facility, which produces analog chips, power discretes, nonvolatile memory and CCDs.
As part of the deal, Tower and Nuvoton will enter into long-term supply agreements, ensuring continued support for existing customers of both companies. Tower’s customers currently served through Fab 5 (200mm) and Nuvoton’s customers served through Fab 7 (300mm) will experience no disruption to supply or operations.
Tower Semiconductor offers a broad range of advanced analog process technologies for foundry customers. The company’s specialty technology offerings include: SiGe BiCMOS; RF CMOS (SOI and bulk); CMOS image sensor; power management; mixed-signal CMOS; and MEMS.
The company also offers a silicon photonics process. The fab in Japan will help meet booming demand for Tower’s silicon photonics technology.
Given that the company’s photonics technologies are already qualified and shipping in volume from Fab 7 in Uozu, Tower believes this intended capacity investment will help meet demand in the arena. The first increases in photonics shipments are expected to occur upon each new tool to arrive in the expanded fab footprint.
Contingent upon subsidy approval from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Tower will purchase the adjacent land under pre-agreed terms between Tower and NTCJ to support the expansion of its 300mm capacity and capabilities. “Tower targets the combined capacity across the existing facility and the intended adjacent expansion to result in four times the current Uozu 300mm capacity once completed,” according to Tower.
The transaction is targeted to close on April 1, 2027, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.
Meanwhile, in recent times, Tower has also made other major announcements, including:
*Tower and Coherent recently announced a demonstration of 400 Gbps/lane data transmission using a silicon modulator built in a production-ready silicon photonics process. This achievement targets next-generation 3.2T optical transceivers and extends the capabilities of silicon for pluggable transceivers and co-packaged optics (CPO) in datacenter connections.
*Tower has expanded its BCD offerings, rolling out a new Gen3 LDMOS technology.
AloJapan.com