According to the sources, Mukesh Ambani led oil to telecom conglomerate Reliance is planning to acquire Israel-based Tower semiconductor
However, the plan might get delayed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, also the company officials denied that they are not in talks to acquire tower semiconductors and there is no truth in this
Opportunity for Reliance Industries
Acquiring Israel-based tower semiconductors will help Reliance enter into the chip ecosystem. last year also there were rumors that Reliance was interested in purchasing a stake in the international semiconductor Consortium. However, there were no further developments to this
Image Source – Big Buzz
Recently Intel called off its acquisition of Tower Semiconductor in February 2022, Intel announced the plan to acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion but in August 2023 Intel was unable to crack this deal due to non-approval by regulators
Expert says that this situation has presented an opportunity for Reliance to acquire the tower semiconductor or buy some stakes in the company
Image Source – The Economics Time
Tower Semiconductor and India’s partnership
The semiconductor industry is the fastest growing and leading sector, tower semiconductor produces integrated circuits for more than 300 customers worldwide in various sectors like automotive, medical, industrial, consumer, aerospace and defense. it was ranked 7th in the global foundry revenue with a dollar 356 million.
Tower Semiconductor has consistently extended its support and aid in the establishment of India’s semiconductor ecosystem, in 2013 and 14 it participated in a consortium led by Jaypee group serving as a potential technology partner alongside IBM and more recently it collaborated as a technological partner with ISMC in February 2022 under India’s semiconductor initiative scheme worth rupees 76,000 crore
Image Source – Globes English
Reliance showing interest in tower semiconductors is not at all surprising as the major business hubs in India including Tata, Vedanta, and Hiranandani group are actively looking to enter the chip manufacturing sector
Tata and Vedanta have on-boarded semiconductor veterans to help them lead their new Ventures, the move to the enter-chip sector can help Reliance boost its telecom and electronic businesses
India imports a lot of semiconductor products, India imported monolithic integrated circuits or microchips worth Rs 37,354 crores in FY 2020-21, which went up to over Rs 60,000 crores in the next year and then further increased to over Rs 82,000 crores in FY 2022-23. This adds burden to the Union budget but having domestic semiconductor industries would be a great milestone for India.
