Intel is celebrating its 40th year in Israel with a report that it has exported one billion silicon processors worth $35 billion .
Last year, $3.5 billion worth of Intel products were exported from Israel, said the chip-making giant, which has received from the government billions of dollars in grants and enticements to locate and expand in Israel.
Intel has grown into Israel’s largest private employer, with 9.800 workers.
“Without innovation in Israel, the company has no right to exist,” said Intel Israel president Mooly Eden. “Even as we develop and are at the spearhead of fab technology, we’re constantly moving on to the next technology.”
Intel is in the process of asking the Israeli government for $900 million in grants in return for building another new fab plant in Kiryat Gat, located next to the high-speed north-south Highway 6 that connects Be’er Sheva with access roads to Ben Gurion Airport, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Referring to Intel’s not having caught the fad for mobile devices and tablets, Eden told Globes, “There have been several revolutions. We didn’t respond fast enough, and now that there is a new revolution – wearable technology – the expectation is that we will respond more quickly. The fact that we have to close gaps is not part of Intel’s DNA. We are good in offense, not defense, and we should run faster in the next two years, and show that we’re not just closing gaps, but that we’re leading new trends, such as wearable technology and security.”