Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) today announced that it has mutually agreed with Tower Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TSEM) to terminate its previously disclosed agreement to acquire Tower due to the inability to obtain in a timely manner the regulatory approvals required under the merger agreement, dated Feb. 15, 2022. In accordance with the terms of the merger agreement and in connection with its termination, Intel will pay a termination fee of $353 million to Tower.

"Our foundry efforts are critical to unlocking the full potential of IDM 2.0, and we continue to drive forward on all facets of our strategy," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. "We are executing well on our roadmap to regain transistor performance and power performance leadership by 2025, building momentum with customers and the broader ecosystem and investing to deliver the geographically diverse and resilient manufacturing footprint the world needs. Our respect for Tower has only grown through this process, and we will continue to look for opportunities to work together in the future."Stuart Pann, senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), said, "Since its launch in 2021, Intel Foundry Services has gained traction with customers and partners, and we have made significant advancements toward our goal of becoming the second-largest global external foundry by the end of the decade. We are building a differentiated customer value proposition as the world's first open system foundry, with the technology portfolio and manufacturing expertise that includes packaging, chiplet standards and software, going beyond traditional wafer manufacturing."

IFS has made significant strides over the past year as demonstrated by its more than 300% year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter of 2023. This momentum is further illustrated by Intel's recent agreement with Synopsys to develop a portfolio of intellectual property (IP) on Intel 3 and Intel 18A process nodes. Intel was also awarded the first phase of the U.S. Department of Defense's Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes - Commercial (RAMP-C) program, with five RAMP-C customers in design engagement on Intel 18A. In addition, Intel landed a multigeneration agreement with Arm to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on 18A, and Intel signed a strategic partnership with MediaTek to use IFS' advanced process technologies.