Intel's Israel Fab avoids employee redundancy

R&D still going strong.

Intel Israel is celebrating its 35th year, admitted to a 10 per cent revenue slump in 2008 to $1.39 billion, but blamed that on Intel's spin-off of flash memory maker, Numonyx, as well as the closure of Chipzilla's Jerusalem fab.

But the standard of Israel's engineers will apparently save Intel Israel the unpleasant task of having to lay-off staff according to Maxine Fassberg, Intel Israel General Manager,veep of the firm's technology/manufacturing Group, and Fab 28 plant manager.

Intel employees are a whopping nine per cent of Israel's entire high-tech workforce and has managed to secure 1.1 billion dollars in Israeli government incentive to add to the seven billion dollars Intel global has invested in fab 28.

In a press conference alongside Ron Friedman (vice-president and general manager of Intel's mobile microprocessors group), Oren Reese (joint head of Fab 28) and Dan Eldar (deputy CEO of Intel Wimax group), Fassberg promised: "My aim is to prevent layoffs [in Israel]".

Intel Israel is certainly not shy about blowing its own trumpet. The Israelis claim the country's subsidiary has been instrumental in developing the latest Montevina platform with Penryn processor and improved Wifi capabilities, Vpro, Intel's BIOS-level remote management tool and fourth generation Wimax.

"It's hard to describe the magic of the technology we are building" gushed Oren Reese.

"All the most important Intel products have a bit of Israel inside" quipped Ron Friedman, who added Chipzilla's High K metal gate technology was also being spearheaded in Israel because, "we know how to do it better".

Friedman also hinted Intel's super star Atom chip may start making waves in the Red Sea, noting, "There is a good chance Atom will be manufactured in Israel in the future".

Fassberg added she held "great expectations" for Israel to push forward to 32nm technology, followed soon after by 25nm process tech. She also announced plans for Israel's former Jerusalem Fab 8 to be renamed International Die Prep Jerusalem (IDPJ), adding that Intel's R&D facility in Jerusalem would remain open.

Asked whether Intel's plans to expand operations in Israel included investments in the Palestinian territories, Fassberg noted "there is a will in Intel, as well as in Israel, to invest beyond the green line, but we need political as well as business partners on the Palestinian side in order to do so."