Computing giant Intel Corp plans to invest an additional $600 million in their Israeli operations, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced last week.
Gelsinger made the announcement during a one-day visit to Israel as part of a tour of Intel’s European operations, which included visits to Germany and Belgium as well.
During the visit, Gelsinger met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he sees a “vibrant future” for Intel and Israel for decades to come.
This announcement comes on top of Intel’s 2019 commitment to invest $10 billion in a new chip manufacturing plant in Kiryat Gat.
Most of the newly announced investment will be directed towards a new R&D campus in Jerusalem for MobileEye—a self-driving-car technology firm, acquired by Intel in 2017 for a little more than $15 billion.
Intel will be investing $400 million in the new campus for MobileEye, which the computing giant views as playing a “key part” in the company’s future.
MobileEye is not the latest Israeli tech firm to be acquired by Intel. In 2019, Intel acquired Israeli chipmaker Habana Labs for $2 billion, and in 2020, it acquired the smart transportation planner Moovit for $900 million.
The new MobileEye campus will join three additional Intel R&D centers in Israel, in Jerusalem, Haifa and Petach Tikvah.
The remaining $200 million is set to be diverted towards another R&D center in Israel, this time in Haifa. The new center, dubbed IDC12, is to be erected alongside its existing Haifa development center, with the company planning to hire 1,000 new employees to develop what they are calling “chips of the future.”
Eventually, the company plans to staff the new plant with an additional 6,000 employees.
Intel is the largest private-sector employer in Israel. It started its operations in Israel in 1974 and is a central staple in the country’s booming tech industry. The company currently employs more than 14,000 Israeli employees.
This article was first published by Israel21c.
