Apple Opening Semiconductor Development Facility In Israel
December 16, 2011
According to Israeli financial newspaper Globes, Apple is reportedly working on preliminaries to establish a semiconductor development center in Israel, having already hired industry veteran Aharon Aharon to lead the new project.
Aharon is scheduled to spend several months at Apple headquarters in Cupertino before returning to Israel to begin activities at the Apple Israel development center. Aharon will begin operations regardless of whether Apple buys an Israeli company, and will begin hiring staff suitable for the US company's planned areas of activity.The "Israeli company" referenced above is flash memory designer Anobit, with whom Apple is in discussions to acquire for some $500 million. While functionally and departmentally separate, this pair of geographically-aligned events underscores Apple's ongoing commitment to streamline its hardware supply chain. And, though Apple is a decidedly global enterprise, its new presence in Israel will be the company's first product development center outside its Cupertino, CA, headquarters.
