Newport Fab LLC (dba TowerJazz) - Newport Beach
Large load · 4321 JAMBOREE ROAD, Newport Beach, CA
Newport Fab LLC, doing business as TowerJazz, operates a semiconductor wafer fab just off Jamboree Road in Newport Beach, California. The Israeli-based chipmaker Tower Semiconductor runs what the Orange County Business Journal describes as the largest chipmaking facility in Orange County. The building covers about 320,000 square feet, including roughly 120,000 square feet of clean room space. The plant specializes in silicon photonics, analog and mixed-signal semiconductor devices. Its allowed operating term was extended in a 2025 amendment to a city development agreement. Southern California Edison is the utility whose incentive programs the plant has used for efficiency upgrades.
Overview
The plant's allowed operating term has been pushed out in 2025. City of Newport Beach planning minutes from June 19, 2025 record a request to extend the allowable operation of TowerJazz from March 12, 2027 to September 12, 2030. The minutes say the development agreement originally assumed the facility would cease operations in 2027 to allow Phase 2 development of Uptown Newport. The Orange County Business Journal reported in November 2025 that Tower's lease extension came with an upfront lease payment of $105 million, and that a lease extension beyond 2030 is not expected. Litigation over noise-abatement terms, begun in 2018, is still ongoing.
Profile
- Capacity and full utilization
- Tower officials told analysts they planned additional investments for the Newport Beach facility. The Business Journal reported that the investments were intended to address continuous and growing 5G demand, given the full utilization of the Orange County site. The planning minutes also record a comment from a speaker at the hearing that the plant will most likely operate only about two more years, and that discussions with the operator are continuing. The development agreement amendment was described as the only requested change to the agreement, with the extension running to September 2030.
- Utility incentives and energy use
- Southern California Edison's incentive programs have supported efficiency work at the Newport Beach plant. A Willdan case study says the cooling plant project earned a savings-based incentive of over $1.8 million. The project saved over 12.5 million kWh per year. Chiller replacements saved 9,194,970 kWh annually, cooling tower retrofits saved 2,204,765 kWh annually, and chilled water optimization saved 1,097,220 kWh per year. Willdan describes the case study as a comprehensive project prompted by the large utility incentive.
Facility
- Activity
- Specialty analog, mixed-signal and silicon photonics semiconductor devices
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Jun 19, 2025
- Newport Beach Planning Commission reviews a request to extend TowerJazz operations to 2030 under the development agreement.
newportbeach.legistar.com
- Nov 24, 2025
- Tower discloses a lease extension for the Newport Beach plant, with a $105 million upfront payment.
Tower Semiconductor Renews OC Lease - Orange County Business Journal