Intel to Invest $6B in Israeli Factory

JERUSALEM, Israel -- The Intel Corporation will invest $6 billion to upgrade its plant in Kiryat Gat, 35 miles south of Tel Aviv, and will hire more than 1,000 new employees, the mega-technology company announced Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the news, saying they'd been they'd been working on it for several years.

"Israel is the focus of global technology and the investment generates profits both for investors and for the citizens of the State of Israel," he said.

Netanyahu called on other international companies to consider increasing their investment in Israel and challenged those who have yet to take "advantage of the benefits offered by the Israeli economy to come and invest here."

Israel will provide between 5 and 10 percent of renovation costs -- from $300 and $600 million.

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett called the announcement "the best gift we could ask for on our 66th Independence Day."

"This is one of the biggest investments that have ever been made in Israel and the significance to the periphery and technological education is tremendous."

Bennett, himself a successful hi-tech businessman, led the negotiations with Intel. He thanked Finance Minister Yair Lapid, "who took this journey with me."

"This is a vote of confidence in the Israeli economy," Lapid said, predicting that in addition to the 1,000 jobs created by the upgrade, "tens of thousands" of jobs would be created indirectly that will benefit average, working families.

Intel Vice President Maxine Fassberg, director of Intel in the Jewish state, said the Kiryat Gat factories have played a very significant role in the company's profits.

Intel built its first Israeli factory in 1996 at a cost of $1.7 billion. Israel invested $680 million (40 percent of the cost) in that facility. In 2011, Israel invested $200 million (7 percent) in a second factory that cost $2.7 billion.