Intel last week postponed this week’s meeting with Israeli officials in Jerusalem where it had intended to reveal its plan to add between $20 and $25 billion to its investments in Israel, Calcalist reported last week.
Sources involved in the discussions told Calcalist that Intel delayed the announcement to avoid the appearance that it was endorsing the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform.
In 2019, Intel’s benefits from its investment of $10.4 billion in Israel reached $90 million. According to Calcalist, the meeting, initially scheduled for Monday this week, was going to include a discussion of the scope of benefits Intel expects to reap from its new, very large investment.
Intel has been “increasingly concerned” that Netanyahu would use the enormous investment to show that naysayers on the left are distorting reality when they warn of a flight of hi-tech investors from Israel because of the judicial reform. If giants like Intel want to invest huge sums in Israel’s economy, as part of the company’s global plan to expand around the world, other major and smaller investors might follow suit.
“This fear is what ultimately led to the postponement of the meeting,” Calcalist reported.
And it’s Netanyahu carrying out a “judicial coup?”
According to its website, Intel established a presence in Israel in 1974 in Haifa with five employees. Today the company employs about 10,000 people, in addition to indirectly supporting the employment of 30,000 workers in Israel. About 60% of Intel Israel’s employees are engaged in cutting-edge R&D, while half support high-volume manufacturing of microprocessors that power the world’s computing devices.
