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Apple to Build Semiconductor R&D Center in Israel?

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Apr 12, 2001
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In the wake of reports that Apple is considering the purchase of Israeli firm Anobit, Israeli financial newspaper Globes reports that Apple plans to set up its first research and development center outside of its Cupertino headquarters.
Sources inform "Globes" that Apple Inc. has decided to open a development center in Israel focusing on semiconductors. The decision was taken even before the company entered into talks to acquire Herzliya-based flash storage solutions provider Anobit Ltd..
Apple has hired Aharon Aharon, a veteran player in Israel's high tech industry, to lead the new development center.

[...]

Aharon Aharon comes to Apple with a varied background that will assist him in setting up a semiconductors operation for a foreign company. His most high-tech venture was Camero Tech Ltd., which develops Radio Frequency (RF) based imaging systems, and which he founded in 2004 with Amir Beeri. Aharon serves as chairman of Camero Tech. Before that he was chairman of embedded security solutions developer Discretix Inc. and managed their Israel development center. Earlier still he was VP operations at Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq: ZRAN), having begun his career at IBM's Haifa development center where he reached the post of deputy director.
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Globes also claims Aharon will spend several months at Apple's headquarters and will return to Israel to set up the research center whether or not Apple purchases an Israeli company.

Both Globes and Israeli business paper Calcalist report [translation] that Apple vice president Ed Frank has been taking meetings with high-tech companies in Israel ahead of the announcement of the development center. A number of other US tech firms have research centers in Israel, including Intel, Google, IBM, Microsoft.

Article Link: Apple to Build Semiconductor R&D Center in Israel?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/14/apple-to-build-semiconductor-rd-center-in-israel/
Umm

Im not sure if apple should develop anything in Israel based off the conflicts in that area, I'm just thinking that even though that company is based there moving the company and building a center in a country with less tensions might be a better idea.
 
I guess it's easier to deal with terrorists around Israel than unions around Cupertino.
 
fjanderson94 said:
Im not sure if apple should develop anything in Israel based off the conflicts in that area, I'm just thinking that even though that company is based there moving the company and building a center in a country with less tensions might be a better idea.
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Intel, Motorola, and a number of other high-tech companies have R&D in Israel. I think it's about a half-hour north of Tel Aviv, is a small city that's the "Silicon Vally of Israel".

It's a very stable area. Most of the news reports find that reporting, "And nothing happened today" doesn't get them viewership, so you get reports of terrorism, etc. I have visited and felt safer in the country than most other places— the West Bank and Gaza Strip excepted. At the risk of this becoming political, the country is very stable outside of those two area and arguably relatively stable in those areas when you look over the last 100 years!
 
Mechcozmo said:
Intel, Motorola, and a number of other high-tech companies have R&D in Israel. I think it's about a half-hour north of Tel Aviv, is a small city that's the "Silicon Vally of Israel".

It's a very stable area. Most of the news reports find that reporting, "And nothing happened today" doesn't get them viewership, so you get reports of terrorism, etc. I have visited and felt safer in the country than most other places— the West Bank and Gaza Strip excepted. At the risk of this becoming political, the country is very stable outside of those two area and arguably relatively stable in those areas when you look over the last 100 years!
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What happens if total warfare with the surrounding countries breaks out? It's not like it has not happened before, It's not like tensions are not currently at an all time high.

What will they do when Iran tests it's first nuclear bomb? What will the surrounding countries do in retaliation?
 
The naive side of me would really like Apple to build one in the US. Give more people jobs, etc. They can afford it without raising prices.

However, the cynical side of me asks why the **** should they do that? That would either lower their profits considerably or raise prices.

I'm so torn! :eek:
 
RalfTheDog said:
I agree. I am keeping politics out of it. I am just slightly concerned that one of my larger holdings is investing in a war zone. (Not that I don't own a few Israeli stocks, I just like to keep it out of the mainstream part of my portfolio.)
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I travel to Israel for business and pleasure several times a year and not once did I ever witness anything unsafe. In fact, I feel more unsafe in parts of NYC than I ever did anywhere in Israel. Herzliya where all the tech centers exist, (kind of Israel's silicon valley) is extremely safe. Why else would Google, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, and TI have offices there (I think TI since closed up shop but not due to terrorism)
 
In terms of competitive positioning, this would likely be a good move, as they can poach experienced people from the plants that are already in the area.

And certainly working conditions at this plant are likely to be better than at the Asian plants.

Boycotting a company because they go to where the workforce is, and give jobs to normal, non-violent people strikes me as a bit silly, but to each his own, I guess.
 
makes a lot of sense

This actually makes a lot of sense. Israel has an exceptional reputation in the semiconductor and start-up arenas. Intel's first fab outside the US was in Israel and Intel still has a huge presence there, which is focused particularly on mobile processors. Israel's top engineering school, the Technion, is world-class and the country has something like the highest percentage of engineers per capita. These are engineers who have an excellent grasp of English and American culture.

The regional tensions are an issue, but to a certain extent they are background noise - Israel's high-tech sector is concentrated on the Mediterranean coast where suicide terrorism has really not been an issue in recent years. Another prolonged conflict with Hezbollah would definitely create chaos (the last one in 2006 shut down much of the north of Israel for a few weeks) but the day to day events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aren't necessarily felt much in the bubble of Tel Aviv or Haifa. On the other hand, conflict does tend to have a dampening effect on economies, so there's an opportunity to pick up very talented people without as much competition as there is in, say, Silicon Valley.
 
jweinraub said:
I travel to Israel for business and pleasure several times a year and not once did I ever witness anything unsafe. In fact, I feel more unsafe in parts of NYC than I ever did anywhere in Israel. Herzliya where all the tech centers exist, (kind of Israel's silicon valley) is extremely safe. Why else would Google, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, and TI have offices there (I think TI since closed up shop but not due to terrorism)
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What will happen when Israel responds to Iran testing a nuke? how will the surrounding Islamic countries react to Israel's actions? What part of the country would make a good economic target? I am sure it would be a part with links to the United States.

War is never a good thing, and Israel is closer than they have been in many years.
 
Before everyone cries foul ponder this:

1) Everything that's excellent about Intels processors the last 5 years stems from their Israeli dev center. The Core architecture, beginning with "Yonah" (hint hint) has its home in Israel. And you are buying Apple stuff using this technology since.. the Intel switch.

2) The US is considered a terrorist state in a very large part of the world. And you are buying Apple stuff, are you?

Oooh you say: Apple doesn't have anything to do with the war of terror or the politics of the US. Well, I bet these technology companies doesn't terrorize their neighbors and is responsible for Israel's politics either.

I think this is an excellent move. For Apple. Not for the US. USA seems to suffer from brain drain as more and more high tech development and manufacturing moves over seas.

I care about Apple, not USA. It's two different entities. Which is my point entirely.
 
cheeseburger2 said:
And certainly working conditions at this plant are likely to be better than at the Asian plants.
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This would be an R&D lab, not a factory. First class engineers will be working there, not just some random people pressing the buttons.

Boycotting a company because they go to where the workforce is, and give jobs to normal, non-violent people strikes me as a bit silly, but to each his own, I guess.
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I bet there is some serious knowledge in Israel when it comes to chips because Intel has a major R&D lab there too. I doubt it's just a coincidence.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I thought it said they building in Israel? Not Gaza where those terrorist swine fire rockets at Civilians intentionally and cross the border and stab the Fogel family to death even the 2 month old daughter while she was being held in her dying fathers arms. Or the two year old boy that was shot at point blank between the eyes? Gazans die because they fire rockets from populated areas intentionally to increase collateral damage. I WORKED IN GAZA FOR TWO YEARS. I have first hand experience, not what is being birthed from the propaganda machines. Israelis tax dollars go directly to Palestinian infrastructure, I've never witnessed such kindness that gets such reprehensible violence in return. I quit and left that awful place called Gaza.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Send US jobs to Israel. Cool.
 
MOD NOTE

Keep politics out of this. All discussion related to politics should take place in Politics, Religion and Social Issues forum. Political posts WILL BE DELETED
 
Hellhammer said:
MOD NOTE

Keep politics out of this. All discussion related to politics should take place in Politics, Religion and Social Issues forum. Political posts WILL BE DELETED
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Point of order: Is it acceptable to bring up points as to how politics relate to Apple business? I am not talking about taking a pro or con taking sides, just, "What happens if..." kind of stuff?

Edited to say, Donald Duck for president! :)
 
I wonder when Apple will start offering its first laptop powered by the A-chip.

At some point I think it will start to happen. Just as when the PowerPC chip was replaced with Intel.
 
Henriok said:
Before everyone cries foul ponder this:

1) Everything that's excellent about Intels processors the last 5 years stems from their Israeli dev center. The Core architecture, beginning with "Yonah" (hint hint) has its home in Israel. And you are buying Apple stuff using this technology since.. the Intel switch.

2) The US is considered a terrorist state in a very large part of the world. And you are buying Apple stuff, are you?

Oooh you say: Apple doesn't have anything to do with the war of terror or the politics of the US. Well, I bet these technology companies doesn't terrorize their neighbors and is responsible for Israel's politics either.

I think this is an excellent move. For Apple. Not for the US. USA seems to suffer from brain drain as more and more high tech development and manufacturing moves over seas.

I care about Apple, not USA. It's two different entities. Which is my point entirely.
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European Statists FTW!!!

/puke
 
This sounds so cool. I hope there is some software development in that center, then I would really want to move there.

Israel is a great place for start-ups, a great place for technology, and just a great place to live in.

Oded, Israel
 
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