An innovative powder metallurgy based technique has been investigated to fabricate multilayer tapes having configurations Ni/Ni-5 at.% W and Ni/Ni-5 at.% W/Ni for use as mechanically strong and textured substrates for coated superconductor applications. Development of cube texture ({0 0 1}〈1 0 0〉) following heavy cold rolling (∼95%) and annealing has been studied in the Ni side(s) of these multilayer tapes and this has been compared to a monolithic Ni tape. The deformation textures in the Ni side(s) of the tapes are found to be quite similar to that of monolithic Ni strained to similar level of deformation. However, the cube texture upon annealing has been found to be significantly stronger in the Ni side(s) of the multilayer tapes as compared to the monolithic Ni tape after different annealing treatments. Cross-sectional EDS analyses in form of X-ray area mapping of the multilayer tapes reveal significant diffusion of W from the alloy side to the Ni side(s). All these facts amply demonstrate the beneficial role of the alloying element W on the development of cube texture in Ni. Finally, the mechanical properties of the multilayer tapes have been evaluated to ascertain their suitability in the actual application scenario. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.