Monday, December 26, 2005

Did you know? Israel has more companies listed on the Nasdaq than any other country besides for the US.

Over 70 companies. Full article at the NY Times:

High-Tech Industry in Israel Goes From Bust to Boom

Israel's high-tech sector is having its best year since the dot-com implosion in 2000, and the evidence includes this working-class town, where bulldozers are rapidly clearing acres of land for a huge, state-of-the-art chip-making plant.

The Intel Corporation, the world's largest chip maker, announced this month that it would invest $3.5 billion to build a new plant, adjacent to an existing one that makes Pentium 4 chips, at an industrial park in this town in southern Israel, which has long struggled economically despite the money poured into it.

Intel already has six design and production facilities scattered across Israel and more than 6,000 workers, making it one of the country's largest private employers. It will be adding at least 2,000 jobs at the new plant, which will produce 12-inch chip wafers, the company says.

"Intel has a long history of high-tech manufacturing in Israel, and this is a natural continuation of that," said Alex Kornhauser, the general manger of Intel's operations in Israel. "When the manufacturing requires highly skilled people, we believe we have a competitive advantage here."

The Intel project is a leading example of the overall resurgence of the high-tech sector, which generates more than $13 billion of annual exports, or about 40 percent of Israel's total exports, according to government figures.

From large manufacturers such as Intel to start-ups financed by venture capital firms in the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya, the industry appears to have largely recovered after taking a pounding five years ago. Israel now has more than 70 companies listed on the Nasdaq, more than any other country outside of the United States.