Apple's Expanded Presence in Israel Focused on Chip Design

A8Following Apple CEO Tim Cook's visit to Israel this week, the company's increasing interest in the country is said to relate to chip design, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple recently opened new research and development offices in Israel north of Tel Aviv, with the facilities serving as the iPhone maker's second-largest R&D operations outside of the United States.

“Apple’s Israeli acquisitions and its expanding local workforce show that the company is becoming more and more independent on the chip level, where it once had to rely on external suppliers,” said Shlomo Gradman, chairman of the Israeli Semiconductor Club.

Apple may be looking to increase development of chips internally to the costs associated with relying on third-party suppliers, although it still relies heavily on vendors such as Samsung to produce chips for iPhones. Apple has acquired two Israel-based microprocessor chip design firms in Anobit Technologies and PrimeSense in recent years, and also hired several Texas Instrument engineers in Israel after the company announced some 250 job cuts at its Ra'anana offices.

Apple vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji is an Israeli Arab that grew up in Haifa and earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science from Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology. Srouji joined Apple in 2008 and oversees custom silicon architecture and development covering several devices and technologies. Apple has over 700 other employees working directly for the company in Israel.

“We’ve hired our first individual in Israel in 2011 and we now have over 700 people working in Israel directly for us,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in the meeting with Israeli president Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday. “Israel and Apple have gotten much closer together over the last three years than ever before, and we see that as just the beginning,” he added.

Apple has job listings in Israel for a number of chip-related positions in the fields of silicon and semiconductor design, testing and engineering. The company has also been hiring staff to work at its chip design center in Haifa over the past three years. Google, Facebook, IBM, HP and hundreds of other international companies have also setup R&D centers in Israel, often following acquisitions of local companies.

Tag: Israel

Top Rated Comments

Weaselboy Avatar
119 months ago
[Mod Note]

I have removed several posts that were political in nature. Please keep the discussion on topic and not about politics.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Silencio Avatar
119 months ago
I wonder what Israel is "doing right" that other countries aren't. More small startups? Better education? Government incentives?

Israel has had a lot of chip design talent for a long time. Some may recall that the Intel team that designed the Pentium M, which became the basis for the Core series, was based in Israel. So, I don't know that it's something that recent governments have done or not, but the engineering talent in that country is not new.

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/how-israel-saved-intel/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eraserhead Avatar
119 months ago
Does this mean that certain components may bare the phrase 'Designed by Apple in Israel'?

I doubt it. You'd get a boycott from half the world.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PowerBook-G5 Avatar
119 months ago
After seeing the power of the A8X in the iPad Air 2, I can't wait to see what they pull off with the A9 or A9X for later this year! An iPhone 6S with 2GB RAM and an A9 chip will be a true powerhouse!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mums Avatar
119 months ago
[Mod Note]

I have removed several posts that were political in nature. Please keep the discussion on topic and not about politics.
So basically you are mandating that we can only post positive comments about this article or risk being sensored / banned, as I have been many times simply for expressing alternative viewpoints.

Wait: Isn't the PRSI (or whatever) disclaimer for "political" articles? So now we can't discuss politics because it involves Israel? What hypocrisy! What if we are pro-Israel? Then we get to write what we want?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
odedia Avatar
119 months ago


I wonder what Israel is "doing right" that other countries aren't. More small startups? Better education? Government incentives?
I think it's really a unique blend that allows for this. Most Israelis serve in the Israeli Defence Forces for 3 years in ages 18-21. The smartest of them are assigned to very lucrative positions in intelligence and software development units (Mamram being one of the most notable). The need for excellent technical advantage is not a nice-to-have, it is mandatory in the region Israel exists in and the many enemies it (sadly) still has.

What you end up with is a lot of talented people at the age of 21 with a lot of technical expertise, who are usually more mature than the average 21 year-old who is in the middle of his college degree. These people tend to build startups and trying to invent the next big thing.

That, plus government incentives and a little "Hutzpa" results in a place that has often been called "The start-up nation".
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18 Will Finally Bring This Android Feature to iPhone

Monday March 25, 2024 6:42 am PDT by
iOS 18 will allow iPhone users to place app icons anywhere on the Home Screen grid, according to sources familiar with development of the software update. This basic feature has long been available on Android smartphones. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, our sources said that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18....
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...