Chipmaker giant Intel Corp. of Santa Clara said it plans to buy Tower Semiconductor, which is headquartered in Israel but has much of its domestic operations in Newport Beach, for about $5.4 billion.
Tower (Nasdaq: TSEM) is Orange County’s second-largest chipmaker with an estimated local workforce of 800 people, according to the Business Journal.
Intel said in a statement the transaction is expected to close in approximately 12 months, and did not provide any details about plans for the OC site.
Tower maintains a foundry and sizeable operations near the Newport Beach and Irvine city lines.
