AMD Opens Israeli R&D Center, Hints At ARM Link

siliconbits writes "We've learnt that AMD will open a new research and development center in Israel in the Tel-Aviv area, one which will be built around Graphic Remedy, the small startup they purchased in September 2010 and which specialises in development tools for heterogeneous computing and 3D graphics. Although the chip company hasn't published any press releases yet, the news is a clear indication that AMD sees its future (and its survival) in a more fragmented market where x86 is no longer the dominating platform."

Israel has a lot more high tech than you expect

[Reverand Dave]

I worked in a semiconductor fab for a long time and we used AMAT SEM machines that were manufactured in israel. The direct factory reps were all israeli as well. A lot of people think of israel as this war-torn middle east wasteland but that's just not the case. It's a very wealthy and prosperous country, even if they are expanding and displacing the native populace. They are bringing a lot of non-oil money into the region.

Re:Oh well

[derGoldstein]

How can you be a "democracy" when you deny full status to non-Jews?

Ignorance is far too rampant for me to make a dent, but I'll try:
- Arab population in Israel: 1,271,000 (about 20% of the population)
- 84.9% of Israeli Arabs stated that Israel has a right to exist as an independent state
- 77% would rather live in Israel as Israeli citizens than in any other country in the world
There are 14 arab members of parliament [wikipedia.org] in the Israeli Knesset (out of 120 members total)

Feel free to check the stats here [wikipedia.org]. I'm Israeli and I work with arabs every day, in the tech sector. They send their children to Israeli schools, and vote for parliament like any other citizen. The only major difference is that they don't have to serve in the IDF unless they want to.