Apollo Global Management’s affiliates will provide $11 billion (€10.1 billion) to Intel to buy a 49 per cent stake in a joint venture entity related to an under-construction manufacturing facility in Ireland.
The Fab 34 facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare, is Intel’s leading-edge high-volume manufacturing facility designed for wafers using the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process technologies, the company said on Tuesday.
Intel announced plans in 2022 to build chip factories in Ireland and France as it seeks to benefit from easier European Commission funding rules and subsidies.
The chipmaker said it has invested $18.4 billion in Fab 34 and the transaction allows Intel to unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment.
Intel previously partnered with large private capital groups to finance the construction of new semiconductor fabrication plants in other parts of the world.
Such a move allows Intel to retain majority ownership and control of the plant while giving it access to funding needed to pursue an expansion of its manufacturing operations. For the investor it offers some ownership of an asset and a share of the profits that it generates.
In 2022 the group sold a stake of up to 49 per cent in a chip-making plant it is building in Arizona to Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure Partners for $15 billion to finance the $30 billion project. – Reuters
