In its latest mega Israeli acquisition, Intel Corporation has announced a definitive agreement to purchase Tower Semiconductor for $53 per share in cash — a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion.

Unanimously approved by Intel’s and Tower’s boards of directors, the transaction is expected to close in approximately 12 months.

Intel is the most active foreign corporate investor in Israel and employs thousands at five Intel facilities in Israel. It is also an active purchaser of Israeli companies. In 2017, Intel bought Mobileye for $15.3 billion; Habana Labs for $2 million in 2019, Moovit for $900 million in 2020; and Screenovate for $100 million in 2021.

Tower, based in Migdal HaEmek in northern Israel with a factory in Texas, is a leading foundry for analog semiconductors in high-growth markets such as mobile, automotive and power. In 2021, Tower’s annual sales reached about $1.3 billion.

Intel established its own foundry services last March to help meet growing global demand for semiconductors.

Randhir Thakur, president of Intel Foundry Services, said that with the addition of Tower, “Intel is strongly positioned to bring more value to customers across the nearly $100 billion addressable foundry market.”

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said, “Tower’s specialty technology portfolio, geographic reach, deep customer relationships and services-first operations will help scale Intel’s foundry services and advance our goal of becoming a major provider of foundry capacity globally.”