3 ms·

Why would Israel have ever been an intelligent location for that? Was it just about connections and money? Surely there’s places with better labour or logistic

Why would Israel have ever been an intelligent location for that? Was it just about connections and money? Surely there’s places with better labour or logistics options.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
Israel has incredible tech talent in general but especially in semiconductor design. For example, Amazon’s chips are designed by a company they acquired in Israel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Labs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Labs). I’m not sure what the causes are, but Israel has a lot of talent and an entrepreneurial culture that’s bigger than its size implies.
nsguy 2y ago
Money is certainly part of it, the Israeli government tends to subsidize these sorts of initiatives. Costs would typically be lower vs. other options like Japan, Germany or the USA even without those subsidies. Israel has a long history of semiconductor expertise. From Intel's first R&D office outside the US in 1974 to many others. Mellanox, Tower Semiconductors etc. There's a lot of know-how and expertise and Israel would typically be considered one of the top 10 (if not higher) countries in the world in this area. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/neal-notes/israeli-semiconductor-industry-continues-to-thrive-but-some-clouds-may-be-on-horizon https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/neal-notes/i... https://www.diskmfr.com/unveiling-israeli-semiconductor-powerhouse-a-desert-miracle/ https://www.diskmfr.com/unveiling-israeli-semiconductor-powe...
- wslh 2y ago
  > Money is certainly part of it, the Israeli government tends to subsidize these sorts of initiatives. Governments, in general, tend to subsidize these sorts of initiatives and compete with other nations and states.
ThrowawayR2 2y ago
Intel has had development centers in Israel for a long time; people with computer architecture backgrounds might remember that the Pentium M, which evolved into their Core line of CPUs, was designed at their Haifa facility. It saved Intel's bacon when their Pentium 4 architecture started running out of steam relative to their competitors. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/intel-in-israel.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibi... They also had fabs in Israel already: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_sites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_si.... The paused one is Fab 38, which was to have been built alongside the existing Fab 28. [EDIT] Removed an unnecessary digression.
- catlikesshrimp 2y ago
  Thank you for the insight (no sarcasm) now, about "ThrowawayR2" :/
- nebula8804 2y ago
  Maybe Intel should have failed. It is possible that today they would have much better management and a positive outlook.
yieldcrv 2y ago
> citing need for 'responsible capital management' it wasn’t an intelligent location

Why would Israel have ever been an intelligent location for that? Was it just about connections and money? Surely there’s places with better labour or logistics options.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

Israel has incredible tech talent in general but especially in semiconductor design. For example, Amazon’s chips are designed by a company they acquired in Israel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Labs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Labs). I’m not sure what the causes are, but Israel has a lot of talent and an entrepreneurial culture that’s bigger than its size implies.

nsguy 2y ago

Money is certainly part of it, the Israeli government tends to subsidize these sorts of initiatives. Costs would typically be lower vs. other options like Japan, Germany or the USA even without those subsidies. Israel has a long history of semiconductor expertise. From Intel's first R&D office outside the US in 1974 to many others. Mellanox, Tower Semiconductors etc. There's a lot of know-how and expertise and Israel would typically be considered one of the top 10 (if not higher) countries in the world in this area. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/neal-notes/israeli-semiconductor-industry-continues-to-thrive-but-some-clouds-may-be-on-horizon https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/neal-notes/i... https://www.diskmfr.com/unveiling-israeli-semiconductor-powerhouse-a-desert-miracle/ https://www.diskmfr.com/unveiling-israeli-semiconductor-powe...

wslh 2y ago
> Money is certainly part of it, the Israeli government tends to subsidize these sorts of initiatives. Governments, in general, tend to subsidize these sorts of initiatives and compete with other nations and states.

ThrowawayR2 2y ago

Intel has had development centers in Israel for a long time; people with computer architecture backgrounds might remember that the Pentium M, which evolved into their Core line of CPUs, was designed at their Haifa facility. It saved Intel's bacon when their Pentium 4 architecture started running out of steam relative to their competitors. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/intel-in-israel.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibi... They also had fabs in Israel already: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_sites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_si.... The paused one is Fab 38, which was to have been built alongside the existing Fab 28. [EDIT] Removed an unnecessary digression.

catlikesshrimp 2y ago
Thank you for the insight (no sarcasm) now, about "ThrowawayR2" :/
nebula8804 2y ago
Maybe Intel should have failed. It is possible that today they would have much better management and a positive outlook.

yieldcrv 2y ago

> citing need for 'responsible capital management' it wasn’t an intelligent location