Tower Semiconductor completes merger with Jazz Technologies

What's the deal? On 19 September 2008, Israeli semiconductor manufacturer Tower Semiconductor completed its merger with US wafer foundry Jazz TechnologiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a stock-for-stock transaction first agreed in May 2008. Each Jazz ordinary share was converted into 1.8 Tower ordinary shares, valuing Jazz's fully diluted equity at roughly $40M and around $169M in total enterprise value including net debt. Jazz Technologies and its wholly owned subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor, which operated the 200mm wafer fabrication plant in Newport Beach, California, became wholly owned subsidiaries of Tower. Jazz chairman and chief executive Gil Amelio, an Apple alumnus who had led the company since it took over the former Conexant fab business, retired as officer and director at closing. The group had earlier reported the merger would launch the combined companies under the TowerJazz brand.

Why it matters: The merger gave Tower a third fab and roughly doubled its available capacity, added a large US customer base in analog-intensive mixed-signal manufacturing, and broadened its technology portfolio across wireless, optical networking, power management and storage applications. The Newport Beach facility, known inside the group as Fab 3, operated as part of TowerJazz's global multi-fab network until the trading name was retired in the 2020 rebrand back to Tower Semiconductor. The transaction is recorded on Jazz Technologies as a 2008 acquisition round and on Tower Semiconductor as part of its continuous public-market history, which dates back to its 1994 listing.

Read more: Tower Semiconductor IR · Business Wire