Date: 16/02/2012

TowerJazz with its local partner bids for 'India semiconductor chip fab'

Israel based semiconductor foundry service provider TowerJazz has announced that it has signed a binding MOU with a leading Indian infrastructure conglomerate, to build and operate a 300mm chip fab facility in India. The release states this will enable the company a roadmap to long term 300mm wafer size, 90nm analog technology and companion chips in deep submicron technologies (65-45nm).

TowerJazz is said to have presented to empowered government committee as 3-way consortia with a leading Indian infrastructure conglomerate, TowerJazz and a worldwide leading technology provider. However the company cautions it cannot predict the outcome of government selection, and hence neither has nor can give assurance it will win this bid.

Mr. Amir Elstein, Chairman of the Board, TowerJazz said "The recently signed India MOU is a tremendous opportunity for TowerJazz to utilize its manufacturing knowhow and technical expertise to gain a low cost entrance into an emerging market at a 300mm wafer size level. Should this proposal not be accepted, we remain active in pursuing such models where we add benefit to our partners and customers through our expertise and execution and benefit to the shareholders through profitable upside growth."

For India semiconductor fab, the question is the process node! when the old technology nodes getting obsolete quicker and 14nm is expected to be practical in another few years, India might need a fab which can keep pace with other leading fabs such as TSMC and GlobalFoundries. 28nm/45nm can do fulfill much of the India's requirements, but the issue is fab obsolescence, India needs a chip fab, which researches the new technologies on its own to keep ahead in the market. The research can be much broader than technology nodes alone, it can encompass new semiconductor materials, totally new process such as maskless e-beam litho, new nanotech material such as graphene, and also optical and electronics integration.