Intel Israel Buys Oplus, Seeks Hi Tech Jewish Engineers

 

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem----March 13....... Hi-tech activity in Israel is now starting to feel a real buzz.
For the first time since the death of Yassar Arafat and given the newly established Palestinian leadership directives of attempting to confront terrorism and replace it with peace and commerce, techies in Israel are beginning to smile again. One example of an open resurgence in Israel hi tech activity came from International computer chip giant Intel Corporation which said last week that it is going to purchase Yokne'am-based digital screen display company Oplus Technologies. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but sources said it was $100 million.

Oplus CEO Yair Alpern said in a telephone interview that the Israel company would retain its more than 100 employees and continue hiring more workers. Sources in Israel and in the US indicated that Intel Israel was also planning to hire additional workers in the near future.

The acquisition is Intel's second here recently; it bought Herzliya-based wireless network chip designer Envara for 40 million USD last year.

Oplus is a privately held hi tech fabless semiconductor company in Israel that designs, develops and markets integrated circuit and software solutions for flat panel plasma and LCD-TVs, projection systems, LCD multi-function monitors and emerging digital display applications.

Oplus currently sells three lines of video processors targeted at the full spectrum of digital televisions and digital displays. It has more than 25 customers, including JVC, BenQ, Panasonic and LG. Alpern declined to disclose the company's sales figures.

The Israel hi tech company would continue selling products under the Oplus brand name and would report to Intel's Consumer Electronics Group, Intel said. The international firm would use Oplus to enhance its video processing expertise as it expands its range of components for consumer electronics devices as part of its digital home platforms initiative.

Oplus was founded in 1993 by Dr. Yosef Segman, who was CEO until September 2002. Oplus raised $10m. in venture capital in July 2003, in a round led by Benchmark Capital and BRM Capital, with Giza Venture Capital participating. Previously, it had raised money in two previous rounds from US and Japanese investors. Its biggest investor is Japan's Defta Partners.

The sale marks the first exit for both Benchmark and BRM.

At the Intel Israel's annual press conference earlier this month, the company said it currently employed 5,835 workers in the country. With the addition of 100 new workers, the company is interested in hiring further workers for its sites around the country in order to reach the 6,000 mark.

In fact, Intel went out of its way to proudly announce that it has embarked on a hi tech recruitment campaign to attract Jewish engineers to its design centres in Israel.
A spokesman here said the campaign was underway to attract engineers to specific areas of the business but wouldn’t be drawn on the numbers. The Intel Israel campaign is in line with recent efforts of the Jewish Agency to attract more immigrants from Western countries to Israel.

The Jewish Agency is attempting to allay the concerns over the immigrants economic future. Not only will their careers not be harmed by the move, the Jewish Agency tells them, it may even help.

"Most of the people around me think I'm crazy," says one immigrant from the UK, who plans to move to Israel in May. But when it comes to others, even this immigrant, who is a clinical psychologist, has her doubts. "I was very surprised to hear that last year 400 Jews from the U.K. came to live in Israel. Why would people want to leave such a comfortable life?"

That's exactly the question the Jewish Agency wants to answer. Since its establishment, Israel has attracted large numbers of immigrants mainly from countries of economic distress. But only a minority of the world's Jews still lives in those countries, such as Iran and Morocco. In most cases, Jews now live in conditions similar to or better than what they can get in Israel.

The number of immigrants in 2003 was 24,000, the lowest since the 1980s. In 2004 the number dipped by another 10 percent to 22,000. However the Jewish Agency continues to view encouraging Jews to move to Israel as its main raison d'etre. And not only the Jewish Agency; two years ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that bringing a million Jews to live in Israel in the coming years is a "national objective."

The Jewish Agency is willing to make do with more modest goals. Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor says he hopes over the next three years to stop the declining numbers of arrivals from the former Soviet Union, and to double immigration from the West.

"We want to reach 5,000 immigrants a year from the U.S., an equal number from France, and another thousand from other European countries," Meridor says.

The Agency's target audience consists of people who want to leave their home country, but worry that they won't be able to find work in Israel. In convincing potential immigrants that coming to Israel will be good for their career, they organize meetings between perspective employers and those considering the move to Israel.

Most of the jobs being offered at present are in construction or in the hotel industry, but additional firms, like Intel, Elbit, and the security and aeronautical industries are expected to join the effort. Intel is planning on offering jobs to French immigrants in the area of software and hardware engineering in its Haifa plant.

Local Israel paper Ha’Aretz said the corporation was seeking "hundreds" of engineers and said that local applicants would be wooed with a dinner with their prospective managers. Human resources manager Ruth Rabin, claimed: "the dinner invitations reflect a desire for personal meetings to help the candidates feel more comfortable."

The paper said Intel was seeking to recruit Jewish engineers from abroad and would work with the Jewish Agency to do so. "The project", said Rabin, "is meant to encourage them to immigrate to Israel and to help them integrate into the community, not just find employment."

A spokesman said that the recruitment drive for Israel was nationally focused and not actively international, but added that company would be interested in suitably qualified people from abroad who want to immigrate to Israel.

Intel Israel has a workforce of around 6,000 making it the country’s second-largest employer. The company’s first fab outside the US was established in Jerusalem and the first non-US design centre sprouted in Haifa, now the site of the local headquarters.

Thirty years after its first investment in Israel, Intel (a world leader in supplying the computer industry with microprocessors, communications, software products and motherboards) today employs 5,302 Israelis, up from 5 employees in 1974. In 1999 Intel’s exports reached $810 million, a 92% increase over the previous year. Total Intel exports from Israel peaked in 2000 at $2 billion but in line with the global slowdown in the microprocessor industry dropped to $1,400 billion in 2002.

Intel chose Israel as the location for its first design and development center outside the US (1974). Intel’s first facility for the manufacture of microprocessors and memory outside the US was located in Israel (1981). Today Intel has centers in eight locations throughout Israel.

Intel has also invested in successful Israeli companies. Intel purchased two local Israeli companies, DSPC for $1.6 billion cash and Dialogic for $780 million. As part of Intel’s strategy it had invested over $1 billion in local hi-tech acquisitions and in the development of business in Israel since 1996. Intel Capital has invested over $100million in dozens of Israeli start-up companies, which benefit from valuable strategic cooperation. In July 2001, Intel’s investment in Israel’s highly educated workforce paid more dividends with the development in Israel of next generation laptops for introduction in 2003.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor has assisted Intel at every step on its Israeli journey. Through the Ministry, the Israeli government awarded Intel a $400 million grant for a proposed $3.5 billion project to expand existing facilities and build a new manufacturing plant. Today all Intel’s X86 chips are produced in and exported from Israel.

Intel Israel today has eight locations. This dispersion has been as a result of Intel wishing to be at the power centers of Israel’s “silicon wadi” for development purposes, and to be in the regional areas that have been dedicated as “National Priority Zones” by the Israeli government, for production. This has had a great socio-economic impact in these outlying areas.

Haifa is the home of Intel since 1974 - a multi-disciplinary development center for software and hardware. The Israel sales office for Intel products also includes Intel Semiconductors Ltd. The center was established with a total investment of $ 300,000 and initially employed five workers. Today the plant provides employment for 1,600 people.

Kiryat Gat in the south has a large manufacturing plant which manufactures one of the world’s most advanced computer chips. It is manufactured using state-of-the-art technology that constitutes the basis of advanced computers. The plant was established with a total investment of $1.8 billion, $600 million of which was invested by the Government of Israel, under the Encouragement of Capital Investments Law, and over $1 billion by Intel. This is the largest investment ever made in Israel by a private company. The fab employs 3,700 Israelis. 1,500 subcontractors are employed to support the extensive infrastructure. In Jerusalem, Intel Israel has a manufacturing plant that employs 800 workers.

As Intel wins hearts and minds in Israel, good vibes are also being felt in Asia. A positive first-quarter outlook from the U.S. chipmaker Intel boosted the main market in Korea yesterday as the Korea Composite Stock Price Index surged 24.13 points, or 2.4 percent, to close at 1,022.79.

"Intel's bright forecasts warmed up investor sentiment, particularly in tech shares," said Kyobo Securities analyst Park Seok-hyun. "The rising value of the won is still a negative factor, but if there are no drastic changes, the market will continue to be upbeat."

In other news coming out of the Middle-East, Syria was said to have moved its Intel headquarters to a Beirut neighborhood controlled by Hizbullah while Egypt has pledged to launch Intel cooperation with Israel. But in both of these cases the headlines were referring to "intelligence" and not Intel Israel!

Doran Communications in Ra'anana, Israel is responsible for Intel Israel's public relations.