Intel calls off its planned acquisition of Tower Semiconductor, an Israeli chip maker, after waiting in vain for 18 months for a review by Chinese regulators.
By Don Clark and Keith Bradsher Pcba Oem
China has effectively scuttled a $5.4 billion deal by Intel, the Silicon Valley semiconductor giant, in the latest sign of the frayed business ties between China and the United States.
Intel, which has long had operations in China, said Wednesday that it had “mutually agreed” to terminate a planned merger with Tower Semiconductor, an Israeli chip manufacturer. The announcement came after China’s antitrust regulators failed to rule on the transaction before a deadline set by the companies.
The failure of Intel to complete the acquisition of Tower could send a further chill through American companies with deep ties in China, where it is becoming increasingly difficult to do business amid tensions between the two countries.
The planned merger, announced in February 2022, passed an antitrust review in the United States and several other geographies. But it ran into a lengthy delay in China, where regulators review mergers of companies that earn a certain amount of revenue in the country.
Technology is the prime battlefield in the tense economic relations between China and the United States.
Beijing is deeply upset by an American-led set of international restrictions on the sale to China of the most advanced computer chips, which have military applications, and of the factory equipment to make such chips. Those restrictions were put in place in October. In a separate action, President Biden last week ordered a ban on certain new investments in sensitive Chinese technology.
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