Intel to invest $600 mln to expand chip, Mobileye R&D in Israel
Intel Corp (INTC.O) said on Sunday it will invest another $600 million in Israel to expand its research and development (R&D) and confirmed it was spending $10 billion on a new chip plant.
The announcement was made during a one-day visit to Israel
by Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger as part of a European tour that included
Germany and Belgium last week. read more
Intel is investing $400 million to turn its Mobileye unit
headquartered in Jerusalem into an R&D campus for developing self-driving
car technologies.
Another $200 million will be invested in building an R&D
centre, called IDC12, in the northern port city of Haifa next to its current
development centre.
Intel said the "mega chip design" facility will
have a capacity of 6,000 employees.
Gelsinger, on his first European tour since taking charge of
the company in February, in a statement issued on Sunday predicted "a
vibrant future for Intel and Israel for decades to come".
In recent years, Intel has bought three Israeli tech
companies - Mobileye in 2017 for more than $15 billion, artificial intelligence
chipmaker Habana in 2019 for $2 billion and Moovit a year ago for $1 billion.
During his brief visit, Gelsinger met with Intel and
Mobileye management and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel's Finance Ministry in early 2019 said Intel would get
a $1 billion grant to build an $11 billion chip plant, although at the time
Intel would not confirm the amount.
On Sunday, Intel said investment would be $10 billion and
the first phase of construction has begun.
Its current Fab 28 plant at the company's Kiryat Gat site
produces 10 nanometre (nm) chips.
Intel has not disclosed whether the new plant will produce
smaller chips, which can increase efficiency, but in March it said it was
building two 7 nm chip plants in Arizona for some $20 billion.
Intel Israel's exports grew to a record $8 billion in 2020
from $6.6 billion in 2019, accounting for 14% of total high-tech exports and 2%
of Israel's GDP.
Intel is the largest employer of Israel's high tech industry
with nearly 14,000 workers.
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