It’s a pleasure to start the new year with good news: the Israeli government has approved a $3.2 billion grant for Intel Corporation for the construction of a new microchip manufacturing plant.

The total cost of this ambitious project is estimated at $25 billion, making it the largest investment by a foreign company in Israel since its founding. The grant provided by the Israeli government accounts for 12.8% of the total investment, and the launch of the plant, named Fab 38, is scheduled for 2028.

This new project marks another milestone in the long-term partnership between Israel and Intel Corporation, which began half a century ago in 1974. At that time, Intel opened its first overseas research and development center in Israel. Back then, the Jewish state was not yet called the startup nation, but the achievements of Israeli scientists and engineers, as well as the level of technological culture in the emerging high-tech sector, attracted worldwide attention.

In 1981, Intel built a factory in Jerusalem, which was also the first outside the United States.

Today, Intel Corporation is represented in Israel by three research and development centers in Haifa, Petah Tikva, and Jerusalem. In addition, the leading manufacturing complex Fab 28 is located in Kiryat Gat, where processors used in most computers around the world have been produced for over twenty years.

Intel Israel has made a significant contribution to the country’s economy, exporting products worth $8.7 billion in 2022, which accounted for 5.5% of Israel’s total high-tech exports.

The new Intel Fab 38 plant will also be located in the city of Kiryat Gat, which is 42 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. Thus, the announcement of the plant’s construction during these challenging times, as the country wages war against Hamas, is undoubtedly a bright demonstration of Intel’s support in the face of unprecedented attacks on Israel and a rising wave of anti-Semitism.