With an investment of $1 million, the Intel Corporation recently inaugurated its Yakum Design Center. Unlike most Intel operations in Israel, the Yakum offices are rented and Intel paid only to put in the necessary communications infrastructure. Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel's Israel Design Center (IDC) in Haifa - which will oversee the Yakum operation - explains that Intel did not want to wait for a purposely-built building to be constructed but rather modeled the Yakum Center as a dynamic, efficient start-up, which also included the decision to rent rather than build. He said that "the 17 staff recruited so far to work in Yakum were employed because they were highly creative, out of the mainstream, and undisciplined." Eden hopes to attract up to 100 engineers within the next few years to the Yakum Center. He stressed that Intel is unlikely to expand the Yakum Center beyond 100 people and would be more likely to open additional satellite locations across the country as the need arises.
Rather than expand the 1,400-strong IDC in Haifa, which was Intel's first development center in Israel when it was founded in 1974, Intel chose to open the new center in Yakum in order to have access to an expanded pool of potential employees, and to provide a more intimate work environment. Eden expects that workers across the central region will be attracted to working at Yakum, which is located just south of Netanya. He noted that today "hi-tech does not come to you, you go to hi-tech."
The Yakum Center, which will be headed by Effi Klein, will focus on developing chip sets for mobile computers. "The rate of growth for mobile computers, which today is a $5 billion industry, is expected to be much higher than that of desktop computers," explained Eden. "Therefore we have dedicated a Mobile Platform Group (MPG) to concentrate on developing mobile capabilities. The Yakum and Haifa groups will be working alongside an MPG group in Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, California," said Eden.
Rather than expand the 1,400-strong IDC in Haifa, which was Intel's first development center in Israel when it was founded in 1974, Intel chose to open the new center in Yakum in order to have access to an expanded pool of potential employees, and to provide a more intimate work environment. Eden expects that workers across the central region will be attracted to working at Yakum, which is located just south of Netanya. He noted that today "hi-tech does not come to you, you go to hi-tech."
The Yakum Center, which will be headed by Effi Klein, will focus on developing chip sets for mobile computers. "The rate of growth for mobile computers, which today is a $5 billion industry, is expected to be much higher than that of desktop computers," explained Eden. "Therefore we have dedicated a Mobile Platform Group (MPG) to concentrate on developing mobile capabilities. The Yakum and Haifa groups will be working alongside an MPG group in Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, California," said Eden.