Tower Semiconductor announced another milestone in the
construction of its billion dollar Fab 2 semiconductor plant
with the awarding to two U.S. semiconductor industry
suppliers -- Axecelis Technologies Inc. and PRI Automation --
of contracts worth more than $70 million over the next few
years.
Tower, currently a small company with barely $50 million a
year in sales and a market value of around $100 million, is
building a new factory worth $1.5 billion in Migdal Hoemek
in the north of Israel.
PRI, based in Massachusetts, will supply Tower with an
automated material handling system, factory management
software products, and systems integration and support
services, in an agreement expected to be worth approximately
$22 million over four years. Axecelis Technologies Inc.,
also based in Massachusetts, will supply Tower with ion
implanters at a cost of $50 million over the next two
years.
In February, Tower signed another agreement with Japan's
Nikon Corp. to supply equipment to Tower's new plant which
will reach or exceed $150 million over four years.
The Fab 2 plant got underway with technology support from
Toshiba Corp and financial support from the Israeli
government, bank loans, SanDisk Corp., Alliance
Semiconductor, Quicklogic Corp, Micronix International, and
Tower's parent company, the Israel Corp. Once the plant is
running at full capacity, it is expected to produce 33,000
200-mm wafers per month, of 0.18 microns and smaller. The
plant is expected to directly employ 1,000 workers.
Completion of the plant should produce a virtual explosion
of sales and market value for the company.
