One of the automotive-qualified analog fabs is located in Toulouse in France, and the other in Sendai in Japan. Both include complete process tool lines as well as wafer-supply agreements.

Earlier, Freescale Semiconductor had announced that it would close the 2 wafer fabs, in Toulouse and in Sendai – a move that had provoked strike by employees in the French facility.

The facility at Toulouse, France, is spread over 51 acres and has an 85,000-square-foot cleanroom that produces discrete and power-management devices using high-voltage, mixed-signal technologies.

Freescale Semiconductor's 22-acre plant at Sendai, Japan, manufactures pressure sensors, acceleration sensors, analog/digital embedded microcontrollers, and flash memory embedded microcontrollers in an 110,000-square-foot cleanroom. The production at the Sendai facility is between 40,000 wafers and 50,000 wafers a month.

In a statement, Doug Barrett, senior vice-president and director of Advanced Technology Real Estate Group (ATREG), said ATREG would concentrate on finding an operational purchaser for the "opportunities" of Freescale Semiconductor.

The supply agreement with Freescale Semiconductor, Barrett added, creates a revenue-producing opportunity for purchasers.

According to Rick McFarland, director of strategy and business operations for Freescale Semiconductor, ATREG was selected as advisor in the sale of 2 of its facilities with a view to canvassing fully the semiconductor market worldwide for prospective buyers.