Intel Corp said on Sunday it will invest $600 million in Israel for expansion concerning its research and development (R&D).
The company confirmed it was spending $10 billion on a new chip plant.
The announcement was made during a one-day visit to Israel by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger as part of a European tour that included Germany and Belgium.
The company is investing $400 million to turn its Mobileye unit headquartered in Jerusalem into an R&D campus for developing self-driving vehicle technologies.
Another $200 million will be spent in building an R&D centre, called IDC12, in the northern port city of Haifa next to its existing development centre.
The company said the mega chip design center will have a capacity of 6,000 workers.
Gelsinger, on his first European tour since taking charge of the company in February, in a statement released on Sunday predicted “a vibrant future for Intel and Israel for decades to come”.
In recent years, Intel has purchased three Israeli tech companies – Mobileye in 2017 for over $15 billion, artificial intelligence chipmaker Habana in 2019 for $2 billion, and Moovit a year earlier for $1 billion.
Gelsinger met with Intel and Mobileye management and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit.
Intel said investment would be $10 billion and the first phase of construction has started.
Intel is the largest employer of Israel’s high tech industry with almost 14,000 workers.
