Israeli semiconductor manufacturer Tower Semiconductor has announced major investments in the Japanese market. The company will invest three billion dollars in expanding production facilities in Japan. The Japanese government will actively support this ambitious project with one billion dollars in grants. The project aims to develop advanced silicon photonics technologies for AI. Silicon-germanium chips for artificial intelligence infrastructure will also be developed. The launch of the new production is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017. Reuters reports important details of this international deal.

The investment program will be implemented in two important successive stages. At the first stage, Tower will re-equip the Arai enterprise for new production tasks. They will produce 300mm silicon photonics for modern AI systems. This innovative technology uses light to quickly transfer data between chips. At the same time, the company is developing the production of new-generation silicon-germanium chips. They provide high performance and excellent energy efficiency of semiconductor devices. After the new facilities were commissioned, Tower revised its financial forecast for 2028. The expected revenue will be 3.6 billion dollars instead of the previously expected 2.8 billion dollars. Net profit is projected at $1.2 billion. The second stage involves the construction of a new 300mm plant next to the existing Fab 7 facility.

The global race for AI infrastructure continues to actively gain serious momentum. Samsung Electronics has announced investments of over $73 billion in chip production. Meta has launched mass production of its own Iris AI chip. The company intends to double its computing capacity to 14 GW by 2027. Alibaba has introduced the Zhenwu M890 processor as an alternative to Nvidia solutions.