• In early January 2026, LightIC Technologies and Tower Semiconductor announced a collaboration to use Tower’s mature silicon photonics platform in LightIC’s FMCW LiDAR products, including the Lark long-range automotive LiDAR and FR60 compact LiDAR for robotics and Physical AI.
• This partnership links Tower’s AI data-center silicon photonics know-how to fast-growing automotive and industrial LiDAR markets, potentially broadening the foundry’s role in next-generation sensing applications.
• Next, we’ll examine how extending Tower’s silicon photonics into FMCW LiDAR could influence its investment narrative and earnings mix.

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Tower Semiconductor Investment Narrative Recap

To own Tower Semiconductor, I think you have to believe its specialty foundry focus in silicon photonics can translate into durable demand and attractive fab utilization as new applications emerge. The LightIC LiDAR collaboration reinforces that story by extending Tower’s silicon photonics beyond AI data centers into automotive and robotics, but it does not clearly change the near term earnings catalyst or lessen the key risks around heavy CapEx and customer concentration yet.

The most relevant recent announcement alongside LightIC is Tower’s move, in November 2024, to release its 300mm silicon photonics process as a standard high volume offering. Together, these steps highlight how management is trying to deepen Tower’s role in optical connectivity and sensing, which sits at the center of current growth expectations but also ties the company more tightly to a niche where technology shifts could quickly matter.

Yet investors should also be aware that if Tower’s large CapEx buildout meets weaker than expected demand, the impact on utilization and returns could...

Tower Semiconductor's narrative projects $2.3 billion revenue and $469.8 million earnings by 2028. This requires 15.6% yearly revenue growth and a roughly $273 million earnings increase from $196.5 million today.

Uncover how Tower Semiconductor's forecasts yield a $129.00 fair value, a 8% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Four fair value estimates from the Simply Wall St Community span a very wide range, from US$12.90 to US$129.00, underscoring how differently people view Tower’s upside. When you set those views against Tower’s heavy CapEx commitments and dependence on a relatively narrow set of high growth photonics customers, it becomes even more important to compare multiple opinions before deciding how its future performance might unfold.

Explore 4 other fair value estimates on Tower Semiconductor - why the stock might be worth less than half the current price!

Build Your Own Tower Semiconductor Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Tower Semiconductor research is our analysis highlighting 1 key reward that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free Tower Semiconductor research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Tower Semiconductor's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.