Intel to Sell Minority Stake in IMS to TSMC

Intel will sell an approximately 10% stake in the IMS Nanofabrication business to TSMC. This investment values IMS at approximately $4.3 billion, consistent with the valuation of the recent stake sale to Bain Capital. Intel will retain majority ownership of IMS, which will continue to operate as a standalone subsidiary. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

IMS is the established industry leader in multi-beam mask writing tools required to develop advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), which is broadly adopted in leading-edge technology nodes that enable the most demanding computing applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile. Together, Bain Capital and TSMC’s investments provide IMS with increased independence and reinforce confidence in the significant opportunity ahead of IMS. This added autonomy will help IMS accelerate its growth and drive the next phase of lithography technology innovation to enable the industry’s transition into new patterning systems, such as high-numerical-aperture (high-NA) EUV.

IMS plays a critical role in enabling the growth and advancement of the semiconductor industry in an era of ever more demanding applications. Global semiconductor demand continues to grow fueled by AI, pervasive connectivity, ubiquitous computing, cloud-to-edge infrastructure, and sensing. The market is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030. A key enabler of this growth is advances in lithography technology, such as EUV, which is essential for the leading-edge nodes that enable these demanding applications. These lithographic advances rely on sophisticated mask-writing tools, which make IMS’ leadership technology central to innovation across the ecosystem.

Intel initially invested in IMS in 2009 and ultimately acquired the remaining stakes in 2015. Since the acquisition, IMS has delivered a significant return on investment while growing its workforce and production capacity by four times and delivering three additional product generations. In June 2023, Intel announced an agreement to sell an approximately 20% stake in IMS to Bain Capital.