Israel and Intel have been in close partnership for more than two decades.
This week, the Israeli government agreed to pay an estimated $400 million to
help Intel build a massive $3.5 billion, 300-mm production plant that will
employ some 3,000 workers.
Finance Minister Avraham Shochat said his country would pay one-eighth of the
construction costs for the plant, the second Intel facility to be constructed in
the city of Kiryat Gat, 40 miles southeast of Tel Aviv. "It's a tremendous
achievement for the state of Israel and its economy,'' Shochat said.
Intel originally asked Israel to pay 20 per cent of the project's cost after
paying 38 per cent, or $608 million for the first of the two fabs. Intel opened
its first Israeli facility in 1974. It currently has another chip factory in
Jerusalem and development centers in Haifa and Omer.