Tower

Tower to Manufacture Photonic Quantum Chips for Xanadu 

Posted on by Techtime

Tower Semiconductor announced it will manufacture photonic chips for Canadian quantum computing company Xanadu, deepening collaboration between the two firms as they move from research and prototyping toward structured industrial production of quantum hardware components.

According to the companies, the partnership focuses on developing a dedicated fabrication process tailored to Xanadu’s chip architecture. Several tapeouts have already been completed on Tower’s silicon photonics platform. The collaboration centers on a low-loss silicon nitride (SiN) process, integration of complex photonic components on chip, and the incorporation of photodiodes and detectors within a unified architecture.

The goal is to enable precise, stable, and scalable manufacturing of photonic chips designed to serve as the hardware core of next-generation quantum computers. Transitioning quantum technologies from laboratory environments to industrial foundries remains one of the field’s most significant challenges, as many systems are still confined to research settings.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Toronto, Xanadu develops quantum computers based on photons — particles of light — rather than superconducting qubits or trapped ions. In its approach, quantum information is encoded not in traditional two-state qubits, but in continuous properties of light waves such as phase and amplitude. This architecture allows operation at room temperature, without the extreme cryogenic cooling systems required by many competing platforms, and is designed to integrate into photonic chips compatible with industrial fabrication — a potential advantage on the path to scalability.

Xanadu is building a full-stack quantum platform spanning both hardware and software, including PennyLane, its open-source framework for developing and running quantum algorithms in conjunction with AI workloads. Since its founding, the company has raised approximately $275 million from private investors and international venture capital funds. In 2025, it announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger in a deal valuing the company at several billion dollars. Among its technological milestones are increasingly large-scale photonic quantum system demonstrations and commercial cloud access enabling customers to run algorithms on its hardware.

For Tower, the agreement builds on its expertise in silicon photonics platforms and analog/mixed-signal chip manufacturing for optical communications and sensing applications. As an independent foundry, Tower specializes in customized fabrication processes for customers, and is now expanding into the quantum computing sector — where the ability to manufacture high-quality photonic chips at scale could become a decisive factor in commercialization.

[Photo credit: Xanadu]

Intel Cancels Manufacturing deal With Tower Semiconductor

Posted on by Techtime

photo above: Intel’s Fab 11 facility where Tower’s chips were manufactured. Photo: Intel

Intel has withdrawn from its joint manufacturing agreement with Tower Semiconductor at Intel’s Fab 11X chip manufacturing facility in New Mexico, USA. Following the cancellation, the two companies entered arbitration proceedings. Tower has begun transferring customer production from Intel’s facility to its own Fab7 plant in Japan. The development was disclosed in a brief note at the end of Tower’s quarterly report released yesterday.

The manufacturing agreement was signed in September 2023, about three weeks after Intel’s planned acquisition of Tower was terminated. The deal allowed Intel to utilize a largely idle factory producing older-generation technologies. At the time, Intel Foundry Services (IFS) senior executive Stuart Pann said Tower’s investment would enable the equipment to be activated while Intel provided manufacturing services at the site.

Under the agreement, Tower committed to invest approximately $300 million to transfer processes and install production equipment, which would remain its property. In return, IFS would provide manufacturing services for power devices and RF SOI wireless solutions at volumes exceeding 60,000 wafers per month. For Tower, the deal provided significant capacity without building a new fab, using 300mm wafers that offer lower overhead and higher profitability.

Tower now says it transferred manufacturing processes originally developed at its Fab7 facility in Japan to New Mexico, qualified them and began serving customers. The company is currently moving those customers back to Fab7 in order to maintain supply continuity and service levels.

Record 2025 revenue

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tower’s revenue grew about 14% year over year to approximately $440 million. Full-year 2025 revenue reached a record $1.57 billion, representing 9% growth compared with $1.44 billion in 2024. The company expects first-quarter 2026 revenue of about $412 million, roughly 15% growth year over year.

While the global semiconductor market expanded by more than 26% during this period, the primary growth driver was large advanced-node chips for data centers and AI — areas outside Tower’s core business.

Nearly $1 billion investment in capacity expansion

Tower is currently expanding manufacturing infrastructure for silicon photonics (SiPho) and silicon-germanium (SiGe) components, key technologies for communications and high-frequency RF applications. The company recently added another $270 million to the project, bringing total investment to about $920 million.

The goal is to complete installation and qualification by the fourth quarter of 2026 and begin full mass production in 2027. The project is expected to increase SiGe and SiPho production capacity fivefold compared with the fourth quarter of 2025.

Tower’s improving performance has been reflected in its stock price over the past year. The company now trades at roughly $140 per share on Nasdaq, compared with less than $50 a year ago. Even the dispute with Intel has not shaken the stock, which currently values Tower at about $15.1 billion.

Tower Semiconductor Withdraws from $10 Billion Chip Plant Project in India

Posted on by Techtime

Tower Semiconductor, based in Migdal HaEmek, Israel, has withdrawn from a long-standing partnership that competed over the past 13 years in a $10 billion public-private initiative to establish a semiconductor fabrication plant in India. During a conference call following the release of its financial results this week, the company stated it had decided to exit the project “for good reasons,” without elaborating further. The project had been in motion for years, beginning with the Indian government’s strategic push to build a local semiconductor industry. In 2013, Tower’s proposal was selected by the Indian authorities, but progress remained sluggish and no final decision on funding was ever made.

By the end of 2024, the project appeared to gain traction with all necessary approvals in place, aiming to build a facility employing around 5,000 people and reaching a monthly production capacity of 80,000 silicon wafers. Tower was slated to be the technology partner, providing manufacturing process expertise and operational know-how. However, once again, the initiative stalled. Two weeks ago, Reuters reported that Tower’s main partner in the venture, India’s Adani Group, had ceased all negotiations with Tower, citing economic impracticality due to lower-than-expected local demand.

Other sources told Reuters that Adani was also dissatisfied with the scale of Tower’s financial commitment to the project. Tower CEO Russell Ellwanger noted, in response to a question, that the company had made the independent decision to withdraw from the project about six months ago but chose not to issue a formal press release at the time.

Strong Q1 Performance and Growth Outlook

Despite the setback in India, Tower posted encouraging results for the first quarter of 2025. Revenue increased by approximately 9% year-over-year, reaching around $358 million. The company also issued a positive growth outlook for the remainder of the year, particularly in the second half, driven by capacity expansion investments—primarily in its joint ventures with Intel and STMicroelectronics.

Shift in Revenue Mix

An interesting shift was noted in the company’s Q1 revenue mix. Sales to the RF (radio frequency) market strengthened, particularly in Silicon Photonics (SiPho) and Silicon Germanium (SiGe) technologies, alongside growth in the power management components segment. Power management revenue grew from 10% of total sales in Q1 2024 to 18% in Q1 2025, while RF revenue rose from 14% to 22% over the same period. CEO Ellwanger projected that the RF market could double in size in 2025.

In response to developments in the power management market, Tower has begun entering a new segment: envelope tracking. This niche technology allows power supplies to continuously adjust voltage supplied to amplifiers, optimizing performance and energy efficiency. Following the earnings release on Wednesday, Tower’s stock rose by roughly 7% on Nasdaq, with the company now valued at approximately $4.7 billion.