The Israeli government on Sunday said
Intel
was investing $25 billion to manufacture semiconductors in the country, just days after the chip maker announced a new facility in Poland.
It’s the latest move in a trend among chip makers to focus manufacturing far away from China and Taiwan—the global semiconductor hub—amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China over cutting-edge technology.
Intel (ticker: INTC) has made an agreement in principle to invest $25 billion in a new manufacturing facility in Israel, the largest ever foreign investment in the country, the office of the prime minister said via Twitter on Sunday.
In a statement, Intel said that its “intention to expand manufacturing capacity in Israel is driven by our commitment to meeting future manufacturing needs and supporting Intel’s IDM 2.0 strategy.”
The U.S. chip giant announced last Friday that it expected to invest $4.6 billion in a new chip testing and assembly facility in Poland, which it said would help the European Union work toward a more resilient semiconductor supply chain.
Intel is not the only chip giant to look toward new global industrial hubs amid rising U.S.-China tension over chips.
Micron Technology
(MU)—which has found itself in the geopolitical hot seat amid an inquiry by Chinese authorities—said last month it would bring next-generation chip manufacturing to Japan. Micron is also nearing a $1 billion deal to set up a chip packaging facility in India as part of its diversification efforts, Bloomberg reported on June 16, citing anonymous sources.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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