Intel Gets $11 Billion From Apollo To Help Fund Ireland Plant

Intel says the investment will add to the $18.4 billion it has put into Fab 34 so far, and it will allow the chipmaker to ‘unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment while continuing the build-out’ of the Ireland plant.

Intel announced on Tuesday that it has secured an $11 billion investment from Apollo Global Management for a chip fabrication plant in Ireland that opened last year.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said in exchange for the investment, Apollo will receive a 49 percent equity interest in a joint venture entity related to the plant, called Fab 34. Located in Leixlip, Ireland, Fab 34 is focused on high-volume manufacturing for the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process nodes that have been critical to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s comeback plan.

Intel said the investment will add to the $18.4 billion it has put into Fab 34 so far, and it will allow the semiconductor giant to “unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment while continuing the build-out” of the manufacturing plant.

“Intel’s agreement with Apollo gives us additional flexibility to execute our strategy as we invest to create the world’s most resilient and sustainable semiconductor supply chain. Our investments in leading-edge capacity in the U.S. and Europe will be critical to meet the growing demand for silicon, with the global semiconductor market poised to double over the next five years,” said Intel CFO David Zinsner in a statement.

The chipmaker has been seeking for external funding to help pay for new fabs as part of Gelsinger’s comeback plan, which calls for a major expansion in chip manufacturing capacity in the West to support an expected increase demand for its own products as well as its revitalized contract chip-making business.

Since January, Intel’s manufacturing business has operated as an independent entity called Intel Foundry that puts the company’s product design teams on the same footing as external chip designers it hopes to court as customers for contract deals.

The Apollo deal is not the first of its kind for Intel.

In August of 2022, Intel announced it struck a deal with alternative asset management giant Brookfield Asset Management to jointly invest up to $30 billion in the company’s manufacturing expansion at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Ariz.

As part of the deal, Intel is expected to fund 51 percent of the project while Brookfield covers the remaining costs. The chipmaker, in turn, is set to retain majority ownership and operating control of two leading-edge fabs it’s using the funds to build on the Ocotillo campus.

At the time, Intel said the deal is a “key element” of the company’s “Smart Capital approach, which aims to provide innovative ways to fund growth while creating further financial flexibility to accelerate the company’s IDM 2.0 strategy.”

“Semiconductor manufacturing is among the most capital-intensive industries in the world, and Intel’s bold IDM 2.0 strategy demands a unique funding approach. Our agreement with Brookfield is a first for our industry, and we expect it will allow us to increase flexibility while maintaining capacity on our balance sheet to create a more distributed and resilient supply chain,” Zinsner said of the deal in 2022.