Tower acquires Jazz Technologies

Tower Semiconductor, an independent wafer foundry, acquires Jazz Technologies, a provider of analog-intensive Mixed Signal foundry solutions. The value is of approximately $40 million. The total value of the transaction, including net debt, is approximately $169 million. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2008. Tower`s revenue for 2007 was $230.9 million. The GAAP net loss for the year was $134.2 million.

 Jazz Technologies (formerly Acquicor Technology) is the parent company of Jazz Semiconductor. First quarter 2008 revenues at Jazz Technologies were $50.8 million. The net loss was $4.0 million. Jazz Semiconductor does have 750 employees. The company operates one manufacturing facility in Newport Beach, California, and has been expanding its wafer capacity through manufacturing alliances with Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (ASMC) and Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company (HHNEC) in Shanghai, China. Jazz Semiconductor’s major competitors are TSMC, UMC, SMIC, Chartered Semiconductor and IBM.