Santa Clara, CA – Chip firm Intel said it has taken a four percent share in ASM International, a firm which makes equipment and tools used in semiconductor manufacturing.
ASMI’s equipment and materials are used by Intel itself and the justification for the investment is that its technologies are important to the extension of Moore’s Law. Effectively, ASMI is one of Intel’s suppliers. It’s a bit like your local hardware store investing in a company that makes shopfronts.
ASMI has both a front end operation – wafer processing – and a back end, which consists of assembly and packaging.
The investment accounts for 54 million common shares in the Dutch company, which is listed on NASDAQ (tick:ASMI). Last night its shares closed at $12.42, up five percent on the day.
