Intel to sell stake in Leixlip facility for €10 billion

Chip maker Intel has announced the sale of a 49% stake in its ‘Fab 34’ manufacturing facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare for $11 billion (€11bn).

The deal with Apollo Global Management is part of Intel’s ‘Smart Capital’ strategy, a funding approach designed to allow the company access capital to invest in its global manufacturing operations.

To date, Intel has invested $18.4bn (€17bn) in Fab 34 and the company said this transaction will allow it to unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment while continuing the build-out of Fab 34.

The facility was officially opened in October 2023 at a ceremony attended by the then taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Work on Fab 34 began in 2019 and it is the first high-volume manufacturing location for the production of Intel 4 products.

Intel said that under this deal, it will retain full ownership and operational control of Fab 34 and its assets.

“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,” said David Zinsner, Intel CFO.

“This transaction allows us to share our investment with an established financial partner on attractive terms while maintaining our strong investment-grade credit rating,” Mr Zinsner said.

Apollo Partner Jamshid Ehsani said the company is pleased to enter into the joint venture with Intel.

“This highly strategic capital transaction is among the largest private investments of its kind and showcases Apollo’s ability to provide creative, scaled capital solutions to leading corporations and infrastructure, and to contribute to supply chain resiliency,” Mr Ehsani said.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024.