Apollo, KKR, Stonepeak Consider Intel Ireland Semiconductor Investment: Report

The three global investment firms are considering investing in a joint venture with Intel to build Intel’s new Ireland-based semiconductor fabrication plant, part of a worldwide effort by Intel to become a global semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse.

Several major investment companies are considering investing billions of dollars with Intel to help build that company’s new Ireland semiconductor fabrication plant.

Bloomberg Friday reported that those New York-based investors, including Apollo Global Management, KKR, and Stonepeak, are considering an investment as part of a joint venture to help build the Intel plant.

Bloomberg, citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” said such a joint venture could raise several billion dollars in equity and debt, and that Intel is working with an advisor to begin soliciting interest from prospective investors.

Details of such an investment have yet to be finalized and could change, Bloomberg reported.

Intel, KKR, and Stonepeak declined to comment when CRN requested additional information. Apollo did not respond to a CRN request for further information by press time.

Intel already manufactures chips in Ireland: Semiconductor production began in September at the company’s Fab 34 facility in Leixlip, Ireland. But the company is reportedly looking to expand its Ireland operations. A report in Invesment Monitor in February said Intel was seeking potential investors in an effort to raise at least $2 billion in equity funding for a new plant.

Intel has been heavily investing in its semiconductor manufacturing business over the last couple of years. The company has established a business relationship with Tower Semiconductor utilizing its New Mexico-based manufacturing assets and has proposals before the CHIPS Program Office totaling $100 billion for U.S. manufacturing and research investments in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon.

Intel in March said it expects to receive up to $8.5 billion in U.S. federal funding via the U.S, Chips and Science Act for commercial chip and semiconductor packaging projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon, as well as a U.S. Treasury Department Investment Tax Credit (ITC) of up to 25 percent on Intel’s previously announced $100 billion in qualified investments over five years and possible federal loans up to $11 billion.

During a call Thursday with financial analysts covering Intel’s fiscal 2024 first quarter results, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that while Intel Foundry has so far recorded a loss, that is due to the heavy up-front investments needed to build a global semiconductor business, and that he expects that business to grow going forward.

“Semiconductors are the currency that will drive the global economy for decades to come,” Gelsinger said. “We are one of two, maybe three, companies in the world that can continue to enable next-generation chip technologies and the only one that has Western capacity and R&D, and we will participate in the entire AI market.”