SkyWater to Acquire Infineon’s Austin, TX Fab

SkyWater Technology has entered into an agreement with Infineon Technologies AG for SkyWater to purchase Infineon’s 200 mm fab in Austin, Texas, (Fab 25) and a correspond-ing 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 criti-cal for many industrial, automotive and defense applications.

Fab 25 will also substantially increase SkyWater’s scale as a foundry and provide addi-tional 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 be-come 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 Sky-Water’s customers and support dual sourcing strategies for critical industries.

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, EVP 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.”

“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 na-tional and economic security,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater CEO.

The U.S. is a key business region for Infineon with approximatyely 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 Fab25.