🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The soured deal used an older Intel factory in a practical way

• The partnership came less than a month after Intel’s failed attempt to acquire Tower, and it did not focus on leading-edge process technology 1.
• It aimed to put Intel’s underused Fab 11X in New Mexico back to work; an Intel executive called it an “older factory for older technologies” 1.
• Tower said it would invest up to $300 million in its own equipment to make mature 65-nanometer analog chips (chips used to handle real-world signals like power and radio) for power management and radio frequency applications 1.
• Together, the details frame the plan as a way to fill legacy manufacturing capacity rather than build a shared path toward future technology 1.

Intel’s exit connects with Tower’s silicon photonics growth for AI data center optics

• Tower’s 2025 growth leaned in part on silicon photonics (SiPho), a way to move data using light on silicon chips, used in data-center optical transceivers 2.
• SiPho revenue more than doubled to $228 million in 2025 2.
• That demand supports a $920 million expansion of SiPho and SiGe capacity; SiGe (silicon-germanium) is a semiconductor material commonly used for high-frequency chips, including some data-center connectivity components 2. Over 70% of SiPho capacity is reserved or in the process of being reserved through 2028, backed by customer prepayments 2.
• Tower’s updated 2028 target financial model excludes Intel Fab 11X, which implies the Intel agreement dispute does not need to be resolved to reach that model 2.