"I don’t believe that there are 1,800 employees of Micron in Israel," said new Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, in the company's first official comment about its intentions for Micron Technology Inc.'s (NYSE: MU) Israeli operations.
During a visit to Intel Israel's development center in Haifa, Krzanich responded to reports that Intel was interested in taking back the site of Micron Israel's fab in Kiryat Gat, which was once Intel's Fab 18, and firing most of its employees. "I believe that there are fewer than half that number of employees, and if we're given the building, we'll be interested in most of them.
Krzanich's remarks confirm assessments that Intel plans to employ, at least for a couple of years, 600-700 Micron Israel employees. If Intel takes over the fab, it will have to continue the fab's operations for 1-2 years. After that, assuming that Intel's original activity will expand, Micron Israel employees may be hired for other Intel production lines in Israel.
A few weeks ago, Intel asked Micron for the site of the Kiryat Gat fab, which it would use to expand its Israeli operations and to be better positioned for the possibility of building its next fab here in 2014.
Micron Israel employees today demonstrated outside the fab's gate against Intel's intentions.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2013
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