Recently Intel rolled out its 15 new Pentium III processors built on
0.18-micron processing technology. The Intel Israeli group had cause
for celebration as the new chips were developed at Intel's Haifa
Development Center and high volume production began at its sparkling
new facility at its gateway to the Negev desert facility at Kiryat Gat.
The plant was built at a total cost of $1.6 bln with the Israeli
government providing $600 mln of the total cost. When full time
production is reached in mid-2000 its daily output will consist of
thousands of processors and its production will come to $3.0 mln a day
or about a billion dollars a year. The Jewish calendar beside the 50
Sabbaths each year and numerous other holidays reduces the available
time for annual production by some 75 days. Explaining the discrepancy
in the time available and the total expected annual rate of production
Kiryat Gat Manager Alex Kornhauser said that at the time when Intel
signed Government of Israel agreements related to the Law of Capital
Investment it also received Rabbinical approval for operating the
Intel plant on the Sabbath -- making Intel's chips truly kosher.
Israel's modern high-tech enterprises have to contend with rabbinical
customs. One of these is that enterprises, including industrial
companies require a special permit to operate on the Jewish Sabbath, a
day of rest.