Tower Semiconductor Announces Closing of Sale of Its Shares in Saifun Semiconductor

Saifun Shareholders Exercised Rights of First Refusal; Tower Q-4 Loss Per Share to Decrease by Approximately $0.50

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 2, 2005 -- Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM), today announced the closing of the sale of all its holdings in Saifun Semiconductor on December 31, 2004 for approximately $39 million in cash. Shares were sold to Saifun shareholders, who exercised their rights of first refusal.

As previously announced, Tower agreed to sell all of its holdings in Saifun to a U.S. based private equity investor, subject to the rights of first refusal held by Saifun's other shareholders. Such rights were exercised prior to the end of a 21 day right of first refusal period.

Tower may receive additional payments through August 2005 subject to certain future events. Following the transaction, Tower is recording a capital gain, net, of approximately $32 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, which decreases its quarterly loss per share by approximately $0.50.

About Tower Semiconductor Ltd.

Tower Semiconductor LTD. is a pure-play independent wafer foundry established in 1993. The company manufactures integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13 micron; it also provides complementary technical services and design support. In addition to digital CMOS process technology, Tower offers advanced non-volatile memory solutions, mixed-signal and CMOS image-sensor technologies. To provide world-class customer service, the company maintains two manufacturing facilities: Fab 1 has process technologies from 1.0 to 0.35 micron and can produce up to 16,000 150mm wafers per month. Fab 2 features 0.18-micron and below process technologies, including foundry-standard technology. When fully equipped, Fab 2 is expected to offer full production capacity of 33,000 200mm wafers per month. The Tower Web site is located at www.towersemi.com.