Intel close to securing $11bn for new plant in Ireland: Report

The semiconductor giant is seeking external funding to help pay for new fabs as part of CEO Pat Gelsinger’s comeback plan

Intel is close to securing more than $11bn from Apollo Global Management to build a new chip fabrication plant in Ireland, according to a Monday report.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Intel is in "advanced talks" with the alternative-investment giant for the deal and that it could be sealed "in the coming weeks," citing anonymous sources.

Apollo is among multiple alternative-investment firms that have been seeking to strike a deal with Intel for the Ireland fab, and the firm is now said to be in the lead.

An Intel spokesperson declined to comment.

The California-based company is seeking external funding to help pay for new fabs as part of CEO Pat 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 revitalised 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 report about the Apollo funding deal came out the same day Intel announced that Stuart Pann, the head of Intel Foundry Services, is retiring at the end of the month. His successor is Marvell Technologies executive Kevin O'Buckley, who started at Intel on Monday.

The rumoured 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 $30bn in the company's manufacturing expansion at its Ocotillo campus in Arizona.

As part of the deal, Intel is expected to fund 51 per cent 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," Intel CFO David Zinsner said of the deal.