Tower Semiconductor
Encyclopedia
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (TowerJazz) , global specialty foundry leader and its fully owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor
, operate collectively under the brand name TowerJazz, manufacturing integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13-micron. Tower Semiconductor is an Israeli company specializing in the development and manufacturing of semiconductors and integrated circuits for the electronics industry. Tower is a public company and its shares are traded on NASDAQ
and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
. The company's shares are included in the TA-100 Index
and the TA BlueTech-50 Index
. TowerJazz provides industry leading design enablement tools to allow complex designs to be achieved quickly and more accurately and offers a broad range of customizable process technologies including SiGe
, BiCMOS
, Mixed-Signal and RFCMOS, CMOS
Image Sensor, Power Management (BCD), and Non-volatile memory
(NVM) as well as MEMs capabilities. The company maintains two manufacturing facilities in Israel (FAB1 and FAB2), one in NPB CA, U.S. (FAB3), and one in Nishiwaki, Japan (FAB4) with additional capacity available in China through manufacturing partnerships. In 2010, TowerJazz recorded annual revenues of $509 million, and became the #1 specialty foundry based on revenues, with 70% of revenue growth year-over-year.
in Migdal Haemek, Israel. The plant was established by the initiative of Israel engineer Dr. Giora Yaron , who began working as a physicist at the head office of National Semiconductor
in Santa Clara, California in 1979, and persuaded the management to invest in Israel. Initially establishing a research and development center in Herzliya
and in 1984 laid the cornerstone for the production plant. Mayor of Migdal Haemek Shaul Amor
, was able to change the status of the city to a of development zone area, to allow National Semiconductor to win this maximum state benefits provided by the investment encouragement law. Construction of the plant was completed in 1989. One of the first products that were manufactured by the company was a EPROM
memory chip, which was developed by the Flash memory
innovator Boaz Eitan at start-up company WaferScale Integration at the time.
bought it for $250 million and established it as an independent company named Tower Semiconductor. In 1994 Tower had an IPO on the NASDAQ
and became a public company , in 1995 it has a secondary offering and later the company's shares began trading also on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
. The company also has established research and development center in Netanya
, Israel.
, a government grant of $ 250 million and $550 million credit from Bank Leumi
and from Bank Hapoalim
total . The construction of the plant was completed in 2003.
Inc. in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo prefecture, Japan, for $140 million.
The purchase nearly doubled the internal manufacturing capacity at Tower, increasing it by about 60,000 wafers per month. The fab, which can support geometries down to 95 nm, is part of plans to get Tower's annual revenue up to $1 billion by 2014.
Jazz Semiconductor
Jazz Semiconductor is a US based pure-play semiconductor wafer foundry that serves customers targeting wireless, optical networking, power management, storage, aerospace/defense and other high-performance applications...
, operate collectively under the brand name TowerJazz, manufacturing integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13-micron. Tower Semiconductor is an Israeli company specializing in the development and manufacturing of semiconductors and integrated circuits for the electronics industry. Tower is a public company and its shares are traded on NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....
. The company's shares are included in the TA-100 Index
TA-100 Index
The TA-100 Index, typically referred to as the Tel Aviv 100, is a stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange . The index began on 1 January 1992 with a base level of 100...
and the TA BlueTech-50 Index
TA BlueTech-50 Index
The TA BlueTech-50 Index is a stock market index of the 50 most highly capitalised Information technology and Biotechnology companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange...
. TowerJazz provides industry leading design enablement tools to allow complex designs to be achieved quickly and more accurately and offers a broad range of customizable process technologies including SiGe
SiGe
SiGe , or silicon-germanium, is a general term for the alloy Si1−xGex which consists of any molar ratio of silicon and germanium. It is commonly used as a semiconductor material in integrated circuits for heterojunction bipolar transistors or as a strain-inducing layer for CMOS transistors...
, BiCMOS
BiCMOS
BiCMOS is an evolved semiconductor technology that integrates two formerly separate semiconductor technologies - those of the analog bipolar junction transistor and the digital CMOS transistor - in a single integrated circuit device....
, Mixed-Signal and RFCMOS, CMOS
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
Image Sensor, Power Management (BCD), and Non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, in the most basic sense, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only memory, flash memory, ferroelectric RAM, most types of magnetic computer...
(NVM) as well as MEMs capabilities. The company maintains two manufacturing facilities in Israel (FAB1 and FAB2), one in NPB CA, U.S. (FAB3), and one in Nishiwaki, Japan (FAB4) with additional capacity available in China through manufacturing partnerships. In 2010, TowerJazz recorded annual revenues of $509 million, and became the #1 specialty foundry based on revenues, with 70% of revenue growth year-over-year.
A National Semiconductor built plant
Tower Semiconductor company started out as a manufacturing plant for National SemiconductorNational Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
in Migdal Haemek, Israel. The plant was established by the initiative of Israel engineer Dr. Giora Yaron , who began working as a physicist at the head office of National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
in Santa Clara, California in 1979, and persuaded the management to invest in Israel. Initially establishing a research and development center in Herzliya
Herzliya
Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²...
and in 1984 laid the cornerstone for the production plant. Mayor of Migdal Haemek Shaul Amor
Shaul Amor
Shaul Amor was an Israeli politician who served as a Minister without Portfolio between January and July 1999.-Biography:Born in Boujad, Morocco in 1940, Amor made aliyah in 1956. He studied at the Social Work institute in Haifa, and served as mayor of Migdal HaEmek.In 1988 he was elected to the...
, was able to change the status of the city to a of development zone area, to allow National Semiconductor to win this maximum state benefits provided by the investment encouragement law. Construction of the plant was completed in 1989. One of the first products that were manufactured by the company was a EPROM
EPROM
An EPROM , or erasable programmable read only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...
memory chip, which was developed by the Flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
innovator Boaz Eitan at start-up company WaferScale Integration at the time.
Establishment of Tower Semiconductor
In 1993, due to the global crisis in the semiconductor industry at the time, National Semiconductor decided to close the plant in Migdal Haemek , but the closure was prevented after the Israel CorporationIsrael Corporation
Israel Corporation is Israel’s largest holding company. Fifty of its manufacturing activities and 70% of its consolidated revenues derive from global operations. Its core holdings are fertilizers and specialty chemicals, energy, shipping and transportation. Israel Corp is a constituent of the...
bought it for $250 million and established it as an independent company named Tower Semiconductor. In 1994 Tower had an IPO on the NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
and became a public company , in 1995 it has a secondary offering and later the company's shares began trading also on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....
. The company also has established research and development center in Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
, Israel.
Establishment of Fab 2
In 2001 the construction of a new manufacturing facility (Fab 2), which produces chips with a diameter of 0.18 to 0.13 microns, started with a total investment of $ 1.1 billion. The investment came from Israel CorporationIsrael Corporation
Israel Corporation is Israel’s largest holding company. Fifty of its manufacturing activities and 70% of its consolidated revenues derive from global operations. Its core holdings are fertilizers and specialty chemicals, energy, shipping and transportation. Israel Corp is a constituent of the...
, a government grant of $ 250 million and $550 million credit from Bank Leumi
Bank Leumi
Bank Leumi is an Israeli bank. It was founded in London as the Anglo Palestine Company on February 27, 1902, by members of the Zionist movement to promote the industry, construction, agriculture, and infrastructure of Palestine.-History:...
and from Bank Hapoalim
Bank Hapoalim
Bank Hapoalim is Israel’s largest bank. As of 31 December 2008 it had total consolidated assets of NIS 306.85 billion. The Bank has a significant presence in global financial markets. In Israel, the Group has over 260 full-service branches, eight regional business centers, and industry desks...
total . The construction of the plant was completed in 2003.
Merger with Jazz Technologies
In September 2008 Tower Semiconductor bought US based analog mixed signal semiconductor company Jazz Technologies (AMEX: JAZ) in a share swap deal under which Jazz's shareholders received 1.8 Tower shares for each Jazz share. On the basis of the value of Tower's share at the time the merger agreement was signed, the deal originally valued the US company's shareholders' equity at $40 million. Jazz's production facility in Newport Beach California became known as FAB 3.Purchase of a Micron Technology factory
In April 2011 Tower Semiconductor announced it is buying a wafer fab belonging to Micron TechnologyMicron Technology
Micron Technology, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Boise, Idaho, USA, best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips. Consumers may be more familiar with its consumer brand Crucial...
Inc. in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo prefecture, Japan, for $140 million.
The purchase nearly doubled the internal manufacturing capacity at Tower, increasing it by about 60,000 wafers per month. The fab, which can support geometries down to 95 nm, is part of plans to get Tower's annual revenue up to $1 billion by 2014.