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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (43911)	12/23/1998 7:02:00 AM
From: Bill Jackson	Respond to of 1574028

Craig, Israel is an excellent high tech island for that area, well served by air freight routes to the world. Their aerospace and computer industry consumes quite a lot of semis, and provides the support infrastructure for such a factory and made in Israel parts are duty free and the average education of Israelis is quite high and they have good state medical services which does trim benefit costs, although excess socialization adds to those same costs. In balance I feel Intel and many others have valid resons to site high tech factories in Israel. Terrorism is not as bad as you think. Do you have any idea how many bombs went off and people were killed in the USA last year? People carry on very well there and they are no shrinking violets, but they are careful and security conscious. Bill

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (43911)	12/23/1998 10:15:00 AM
From: Scumbria	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574028

Craig, Paul, why would a semi manufacturer choose Israel as the place to put a billion dollars worth of delicate machinery? A love of Scud missiles? Does insurance pay double if "the walls come a tumblin' down"? Most of the major semiconductor companies have fabs within a few miles of the San Andreas fault. The chances of a scud missile hitting a fab in Israel are close to 0. The chances of earthquake damage in California are much higher. Scumbria

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (43911)	12/23/1998 10:59:00 AM
From: AJ Berger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574028

Here's why Isreal is a Semi Fab's choice Real Estate 1. lot's of cheap disciplined highly educated labor, 2. highly stable geographic region Seismically, 3. located near Europe, India & South East Asia, 4. generous corporate tax incentives for exporters, 5. special exemptions from many trade restrictions, 6. excellent transportation access by air & ship, 7. great quality of life despite the Arab threat, 8. English is one of three Official State Languages.

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (43911)	12/23/1998 12:34:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574028

Craig - Re: "Paul, why would a semi manufacturer choose Israel as the place to put a billion dollars worth of delicate machinery? " Excellent question. Some background. One of the early Intel engineers, Dov Frohman Benchkovsky, invented the UV eraseable EPROM in around 1970. This was an enormous technological achievement - almost the Holy Grail of memory - non-volatile & re-programmable - which Intel parlayed into an enormous marketing success. Dov Frohman, after several more years, elected to return to academia as a professor at (I'm guessing here) the Technion in Israel. In order to not lose such a valuable technical contributor, Intel chose to "endow" Dov with an Intel design center to be set up in Israel, with Dov closely associated with it - although not technically in charge of it. This design center was very successful - National and Motorola and many others emulated it. In the late 1970's the technical talent available in Israel was mushrooming. Further, there was some technical detail that regarded devices manufactured in Israel as of "European" origin, giving such parts a benefit as far as import duties, etc. With favorable financing, Intel chose to exercise the "3" opportunities - finance, talent & favorable European Import status - and put up a wafer fab in Jerusalem, Israel, which went on stream in 1985. Primarily, it initially was an EPROM fab - due to its "historical" association with Dov Frohman. The success of this Fab and even more favorable financing - and the need for expansion - led to Fab 18 being chosen for Israel as well. Bear in mind that not only is Dov Frohman Jewish, but so is Andy Grove and Arthur Rock - Intel's initial - and ONLY - Venture Capitalist and still a board member and large stockholder. Their affinity for helping establish a viable industry in Israel - to provide employment for the rather heavy concentration of technical talent - all factored in to the decision as well. All locations have some jeopardy, be it SCUD missiles, IRA attacks, droughts, earthquakes or VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS ! Paul