zk97654.htm
FORM
6-K
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
For the month of
December 2009 No. 1
TOWER
SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
Ramat
Gavriel Industrial Park
P.O.
Box 619, Migdal Haemek, Israel 23105
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F x Form
40-F o
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in
this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant
to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
On
December 14, 2009, the registrant announces that VT Silicon Selects TowerJazz
for World’s First Fully Integrated 4G RF Front End IC.
This Form
6-K is being incorporated by reference into all effective registration
statements filed by us under the Securities Act of 1933.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized.
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TOWER
SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
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Date:
December 14, 2009
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By:
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/s/ Nati
Somekh Gilboa |
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Name: Nati
Somekh Gilboa |
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Title: Corporate
Secretary |
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VT
Silicon Selects TowerJazz for World’s First Fully Integrated 4G
RF
Front End IC
SiGe
chosen instead of traditional, more expensive GaAs
Market
for 4G mobile devices expected to grow from 4.3M in 2009 to 50.1M in
2012
ATLANTA, Georgia and NEWPORT BEACH,
Calif.,December 14, 2009
– VT Silicon, a
fabless semiconductor company, today announced it has selected TowerJazz, the
global specialty foundry leader, to be its manufacturing partner for the world’s
first silicon 4G RF Front End IC capable of meeting the stringent operating
requirements of 4G mobile devices. VT Silicon chose TowerJazz’s
0.18-micron SiGe process instead of a more expensive GaAs process, allowing
significantly lower cost and much higher integration. In addition, the design
capabilities provided by TowerJazz enable fast and efficient RFIC design flow
for a time-to-market advantage.
TowerJazz’s
0.18-micron Silicon Radio Platform includes a SiGe transistor capable of
operating up to 200GHz. These devices have noise and power performance
competitive with GaAs, and offer as much as 40% lower die cost. SiGe
BiCMOS technology allows complete integration of the RF Front End in a wireless
device on a single piece of silicon. Bipolar devices in the process can be used
to integrate the low noise amplifier (LNA), the antenna transmit/receive and
transmit diversity switches, and the power amplifier (PA), eliminating the need
for a number of expensive discrete GaAs devices.
The CMOS
devices enable mixed-signal and digital functions on the same chip allowing
programmable control of RF functions, advanced sensors, and serial digital
communication. The resulting high levels of integration reduce the cost of the
complete system by minimizing the BOM (Bill of Materials). This technology
delivers enhanced features and higher levels of integration for RF functions in
future cell phones (3G/4G), wireless LAN devices, and 4G multi-mode devices.
SiGe BiCMOS technology is expected to displace chips built today with more
expensive GaAs technology.
VT
Silicon’s new 4G RF Front End IC offers best-in-class RF performance to maximize
battery life for next generation mobile devices. This breakthrough milestone for
VT Silicon was achieved after two years of privately funded development by using
the company’s patented Linearity Enhancement Technology (LET™) and a novel RF
Front End topology to achieve the power, efficiency, and linearity required by
today’s battery-powered 4G broadband mobile devices.
“By using
the Silicon Radio Platform developed by TowerJazz, we were able to achieve
higher levels of integration and enhanced functionality in our 4G RF Front End
IC while at the same time reducing the cost of our chip and minimizing the RF
system BOM. Using traditional GaAs does not allow the integration of
complex digital and analog functions into a monolithic front end RFIC,” said
Vikram Krishnamurthy, CTO, VT Silicon. “Our design, an industry
first, takes full advantage of this silicon process to provide highly
intelligent digital communications, programmability, and control of all RF
functions. It offers a rich set of features within the 4G RF Front End IC
primarily due to the availability of CMOS and bipolar transistors offered in one
process.”
“We
continue to see migration of GaAs products into SiGe as an exciting growth
opportunity for our technology as evidenced by the breakthrough design VT
Silicon is delivering for 4G mobile devices,” said Dr. Marco Racanelli, Senior
Vice President and GM of RF/HPA and Aerospace and Defense Business Groups. “We
look forward to helping our wireless customers realize innovative,
next-generation products not only by leveraging our industry leading SiGe
process, but also using our design enablement libraries which speed
time-to-market for these emerging mobile applications.”
Availability
The first
chip of the family (VFM2500) will be available for testing in the first quarter
of 2010 with production targeted at Q4 2010. The initial design will cover the
2.5 GHz to 2.7GHz WiMAX band as well as the 2.4GHz WiFi band, and integrates all
of the RF Front End functions on a single silicon die (including support for
transmit antenna diversity and 2x2 DL MIMO) with all of the passives (TX and RX
filters and baluns) embedded in a 5mm x 5.5mm x1mm, 30 pin QFN
package.
About
VT Silicon
VT
Silicon is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and manufactures
multi-band radio frequency integrated circuit solutions for the mobile wireless
broadband market. The Company's products leverage novel linearization and
efficiency enhancement technologies that enable highly efficient, low-cost, and
small-footprint intelligent Front End RFIC solutions. For more information,
please visit www.vtsilicon.com.
About
TowerJazz
Tower
Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM, TASE: TSEM), the global
specialty
foundry
leader and its fully owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor,
operate collectively under the brand name TowerJazz,
manufacturing integrated circuits with geometries ranging from
1.0 to 0.13-micron. TowerJazz provides industry leading
design enablement tools to allow complex designs to be achieved quickly and
more accurately and offers a broad range of customizable process
technologies including SiGe, BiCMOS, Mixed-Signal and RFCMOS, CMOS Image Sensor,
Power Management (BCD), and Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) as well as MEMS
capabilities. To provide world-class customer service, TowerJazz maintains
two manufacturing facilities in Israel and one in the U.S. with additional
capacity available in China through manufacturing partnerships. For more
information, please visit www.towerjazz.com.
Safe
Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This
press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may vary from those projected or implied
by such forward-looking statements. A complete discussion of risks and
uncertainties that may affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements
included in this press release or which may otherwise affect Tower and/or Jazz’s
business is included under the heading "Risk Factors" in Tower’s most recent
filings on Forms 20-F, F-3, F-4 and 6-K, as were filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Israel Securities Authority and Jazz’s
most recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, as were filed with the SEC,
respectively. Tower and Jazz do not intend to update, and expressly disclaim any
obligation to update, the information contained in this release.
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For
TowerJazz
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For
VT Silicon
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Company
Contact:
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Company
Contact:
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Melinda
Jarrell
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Vikram
Krishnamurthy
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949/435-8181
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404/781-2902
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melinda.jarrell@towerjazz.com
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vikram@vtsilicon.com
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Media
Contact:
Lauri
Julian
949/715-3049
lauri.julian@towerjazz.com
Investor
Relations Contact:
Levi
Noit
+972 4
604 7066
noit.levi@towerjazz.com