Tower Semiconductor and Applied Materials just signed a 5-year contract that allows Applied Materials’  to provide support for their wafer processing systems at Tower’s plant in Migdal Haemek, Israel through the Applied Performance Service program. Under the contract, Applied Materials will provide technical support for all of the Applied Materials tools in the facility.

Manfred Kerschbaum, senior vice president and general manager of Applied Global Services, commented on the agreement in a company press release

Our Performance Service program is a powerful strategy for customers to lower their overall costs and to align them with revenue by converting fixed costs to variable expenses. Applied can help Tower maintain its world class Fab metrics and operational effectiveness in a time of lower fab loading and be ready to ramp smoothly when conditions improve. This agreement is a testament to the value proposition that we offer and demonstrates the growing momentum of our service business at customers worldwide."