14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is reportedly in talks with the Israeli government to erect an R&D center in a high tech park as close as possible to the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
Positioning the research and development center to Israel’s own center of know-how in chips and semiconductors is regarded as a beneficial move for both Apple and Israel, according to Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav.
Commenting on the news, Yahav said, "The future arrival of Apple in Haifa would be a very great celebration and we would embrace them in the city. We would go a long way to help them and do everything to make their landing in Haifa as soft, as inviting and as sympathetic as possible.”
“Apple has not contacted the municipality but the municipality is making every effort to make contact with Apple. From Haifa's point of view it would be a very important strategic contribution," added Yahav.
Apple’s new center is believed to serve ongoing development of the A-series processors based on the company’s past acquisitions of chip-designers PA Semi and Intrinsity.
The Matam High Tech park is situated at the southern entrance to Haifa, where companies like Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo and many others also have research facilities.
But Apple has two choices for the placement of its R&D center. The second one is the Yokneam industrial zone located south of Haifa, Globes.co.il reports.
This area is also used by high-profile names in the technology industry, such as Marvell, Mellanox Technologies Ltd., Given Imaging Ltd., EZchip Semiconductor Ltd., and Medtronic, according to the same source.
In related news, Apple is reportedly in advanced discussions with Israeli startup Anobit for the acquisition of its technologies on data signal processing (DSP) which enhances NAND flash memory.