Intel has sold 49% of its Fab 34 in Leixlip, Ireland, to an equity fund.
www.eenewseurope.com/, Jun. 05, 2024 –
Funds managed by Apollo will lead an investment of $11bn for 49% of a joint venture with Intel for Fab 34 after months of rumours. This is Intel's second Semiconductor Co-Investment Program (SCIP) deal after Chandler, Arizona in 2022 and is expected to complete later this month.
SCIP is an element of the Smart Capital strategy, a funding approach designed to provide cash for its strategy to win back the leadership in chip process technology and manufacturing.
Fab 34 is a high-volume plant designed for the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process technologies. To date, the company has invested $18.4 billion in Fab 34, hence the $11bn price tag for a half share. This compares to $20bn for the Intel 18A fabs being built in Ohio and $8bn for a high volume 40nm fab by VSMC in Singapore.
The deal with Apollo only covers the Fab 34 joint venture, as yet unnamed, and Intel says this will allow it to unlock and redeploy a portion of the investment to other parts of its business while continuing the build-out of Fab 34, which Intel says is 'largely complete'. The ramp of the latest Granite Rapids data centre product on Intel 3 technology, is well underway at the fab.
Fab 34 was only opened in September 2023, marking the first use of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) in high-volume manufacturing in Europe to support high-volume production of 3nm and 4nm technologies. The original fab at the site, Fab 24, has been a key location for production of Intel's 14nm microprocessors, while also preparing to support Intel Foundry customers.