(Bloomberg) -- NXP Semiconductors NV sold $2 billion of bonds to help finance the development of semiconductors that reduce energy consumption in products like power adapters and electric vehicles.
The chipmaker issued bonds in two parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. The longer portion of the deal, a 20-year security, yields 1.15 percentage points above Treasuries, down from the initially targeted 1.5% premium, the person said. That equates to about 3.30%.
The money will partly fund research and development for innovation in green chips, battery control and energy management for electric and hybrid cars, smart-building technologies, as well as energy-efficiency measures at NXP's own facilities, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The funds were raised by subsidiaries NXP B.V., NXP Funding LLC and NXP USA Inc. The company raised $1 billion in green debt in April 2020.
Corporations and governments globally have raised about $156 billion from green bonds this year, nearly tripling the roughly $58 billion issued over the same span in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The technology sector hasn't been a huge contributor, amounting to only 1.2% of this year's total.
Semiconductors are critical components to many aspects of modern life, and used in everything from washing machines, cars and computing. While chips have become incredibly powerful and efficient, using less and less energy, producing them is increasingly elaborate work. Chipmakers broadly acknowledge there's a giant carbon footprint issue in their fabrication.
NXP said it has cut absolute emissions of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which are greenhouse gases, by 66%. Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, said it was already among the top three users of renewable energy in the U.S. Meanwhile, a global chip shortage is going from bad to worse with automakers on three continents joining tech giants Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in flagging production cuts and lost revenue from the crisis.
Considerable demand for the NXP offering could drive down spreads on the 10-year offering toward 100 basis points, “as double-digit revenue growth returns and credit quality stays on an improving trajectory,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Robert Schiffman and Suborna Panja wrote in a note Tuesday.
The Eindhoven, Netherlands-based company has approximately 29,000 employees in more than 30 countries and generated $8.61 billion in revenue last year.
Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG managed the sale, the person said.
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