Peres: Israel's Intel plant an Everest of technology

Intel has made an unrivaled contribution to Israeli science and technology, President Shimon Peres said Thursday during a tour of the company’s Fab 28 plant in Kiryat Gat.

During his tenure as finance minister in the late 1980s, he was responsible for the agreement that brought Intel to Israel, Peres said.

On Thursday, he visited the plant’s “Clean Room,” in which silicon chips are manufactured, met with Intel Israel president Muli Eden and CEO Maxine Fassberg and addressed about 500 of the plant’s 3,500 workers.

Peres credited Intel’s local success to sensitive and decisive management, saying the company knows not only how to manage machinery but also how to manage people.

Responding to skepticism over the generous tax breaks and other investment benefits the government has provided Intel over the years, he said the company has more than justified all the hope invested in it.

“Intel has returned through taxes all the funds it has ever received from the State of Israel – and then some,” Peres said. “The greater the investment, the more we get in return.”

“Who ever imagined that Kiryat Gat would be one of the most important places in the world for technology, the Everest of technological science?” he said. “This plant has given Israel the momentum to reach the peak of technology. It is transforming Israel into the land of milk, honey and chips.”

Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report.