SkyWater to Acquire Infineon’s Austin Fab and Establish Strategic Partnership to Expand U.S. Foundry Capacity for Foundational Chips
27 February 2025 - 12:00AM
Business Wire
- Transaction strengthens U.S.-based production of essential
chips for industrial, automotive and defense applications
- SkyWater plans to expand 200 mm capacity, technology
offerings and capabilities while supporting U.S.-based
dual-sourcing strategies in critical industries
- Long-term supply agreement ensures Infineon a continued
high-volume manufacturing base in the U.S.
SkyWater Technology (Nasdaq: SKYT) has entered into an agreement
with Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) for
SkyWater to purchase Infineon’s 200 mm fab in Austin, Texas (“Fab
25”) and a corresponding long-term supply agreement. SkyWater will
operate the fab as a foundry, increasing available capacity in the
U.S. for foundational chips on nodes from 130 nanometers down to 65
nanometers that are critical for many industrial, automotive and
defense applications. Fab 25 will also substantially increase
SkyWater’s scale as a foundry and provide additional capabilities
such as 65 nm infrastructure, expanded copper processing scale and
high-voltage Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology. The long-term
supply agreement will enable Infineon to maintain a strong,
efficient and scalable manufacturing footprint in the United
States.
Infineon and SkyWater believe that this strategic partnership
will enhance the long-term viability and utilization of Fab 25. The
transaction also affirms the long-term perspective for nearly 1,000
manufacturing jobs at Fab 25, since all current Fab 25 employees
will become SkyWater employees as part of the agreement.
SkyWater is a U.S.-based company with access to a broad customer
base and a Trusted supplier of the U.S. Department of Defense.
SkyWater believes the transaction will allow it to realize
significant economies of scale, bring high-value manufacturing
services to SkyWater’s customers and support dual sourcing
strategies for critical industries. Furthermore, SkyWater plans to
transition the Fab 25 business model from Integrated Device
Manufacturer (IDM) to foundry to bring substantial manufacturing
capacity to a broad base of new customers over time. Foundational
semiconductors are of strategic importance for several U.S.
industries, including the defense sector. The partnership will
strengthen the industrial base and domestic semiconductor supply
chain in the U.S. as well as the resilience for critical
foundational semiconductor technology. The closing of the
transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the U.S. and is
expected in the coming months.
"The transaction fully aligns with Infineon's manufacturing
strategy to create synergies with strategic foundry partners when
in-house manufacturing does not offer competitive advantages,” said
Alexander Gorski, Executive Vice President and Head of Frontend
Operations at Infineon. “The partnership with SkyWater creates
mutual benefits and synergies, supports our profitable growth and
provides us with a strong and trusted foundry partner, thereby
safeguarding our long-term supply base in the U.S. We commend the
contributions the Fab 25 team has made to our operations and thank
the Austin community and our local and federal partners for their
support and collaboration."
“This milestone expands our partnership with Infineon and
significantly increases our U.S. foundry capacity. We expect it
will also enhance supply chain resilience for foundational chips
that are critical to sensitive strategic applications, thereby
strengthening both national and economic security,” said Thomas
Sonderman, SkyWater CEO. “This investment is an expansion that
enhances our ability to serve both our defense and industrial
customers. By leveraging the proven expertise of the talented team
in Austin, we are positioning this fab as a cornerstone in the U.S.
semiconductor foundry network—one that will extend our capabilities
to support defense programs while also enabling new opportunities
in commercial markets.”
The U.S. is a key business region for Infineon with around 4,000
employees, 15 locations dedicated to research and development
activities and 1,000 employees in R&D roles. Infineon serves a
multitude of American customers across all its market segments in
automotive, industrial & infrastructure, as well as consumer,
computing & communications. Currently, up to one billion
semiconductor chips per year for major automotive, industrial and
communications companies are manufactured in Fab 25.
About Infineon
Infineon Technologies AG is a global semiconductor leader in
power systems and IoT. Infineon drives decarbonization and
digitalization with its products and solutions. The company has
around 58,060 employees worldwide and generated revenue of about
€15 billion in the 2024 fiscal year (ending 30 September). Infineon
is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and
in the USA on the OTCQX International over-the-counter market
(ticker symbol: IFNNY).
SkyWater Investor Webcast
SkyWater will host a conference call today, Wednesday, February
26, 2025, at 7:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. ET) to discuss its fourth
quarter and fiscal year 2024 financial results. SkyWater will also
discuss on the conference call additional information regarding the
Fab 25 transaction. A live webcast of the call will be available
online at IR.SkyWaterTechnology.com.
SkyWater Form 8-K
SkyWater is filing a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission that contains additional information regarding
the Fab 25 transaction and related agreements.
About SkyWater
SkyWater (NASDAQ: SKYT) is a U.S.-based semiconductor
manufacturer and a DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Supplier.
SkyWater’s Technology as a Service model streamlines the path to
production for customers with development services, high-volume
production and heterogeneous integration solutions in its U.S.
facilities. This pioneering model enables innovators to co-create
the next wave of technology within diverse categories including
mixed-signal CMOS, read-out ICs, rad-hard ICs, MEMS,
superconducting ICs, photonics and advanced packaging. SkyWater
serves the growing markets of aerospace & defense, automotive,
biomedical, industrial and quantum computing. For more information,
visit: www.skywatertechnology.com.
SkyWater Technology Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements that are based on SkyWater’s current
expectations or forecasts of future events, rather than past events
and outcomes, and such statements are not guarantees of future
performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks,
uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause SkyWater’s actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Key factors that could cause SkyWater’s actual results to be
different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited
to, ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and satisfy
other conditions to the proposed Fab 25 transaction on the
anticipated timeframe or at all; ability to realize the expected
benefits of the proposed Fab 25 transaction; ability to promptly
and effectively integrate Fab 25’s operations; negative effects
relating to the announcement of the proposed Fab 25 transaction or
the consummation of the proposed Fab 25 transaction on the market
price of SkyWater’s common stock; significant transaction costs
and/or unknown or inestimable liabilities; general economic and
business conditions that may affect the combined company following
the consummation of the proposed Fab 25 transaction; and other
factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of its annual
report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and in
other documents that SkyWater files with the SEC, which are
available at http://www.sec.gov. SkyWater assumes no obligation to
update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date of this press release.
SKYT-CORP
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250226773415/en/
SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian
lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com SkyWater Investor
Contact: Claire McAdams claire@headgatepartners.com Infineon
Investor Contact: Daniel.Gyoery| daniel.gyoery@infineon.com
Infineon Media Contact: Andre Tauber|
andre.tauber@infineon.com
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