The US tech giant’s CEO Safra Catz revealed the plans during a visit to Israel this week. She said her company would double its investment in the country.
Oracle’s next data center in Israel will be deep undergroundCatz visited her company’s teams in Petah Tikva and Beersheba to find out more about how they had been impacted by the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been ongoing since October. She also met with Israeli politicians including President Benjamin Netanyahu.
In comments to the Times of Israel, she said Oracle would double its investment in Israel, and said it would build a second data center to service its cloud customers in the region.
“As our business grows, we increase our cloud activity in Israel,” Catz said. “We will soon open a second new data center in Israel.
“Israel must have a secure cloud, so it will be nine floors underground, with the aim of not jeopardizing business survival.”
DCD has contacted Oracle for more information about the new data center and when it will be operational.
Second site for Oracle’s Israel cloud regionOracle has operated a dedicated cloud region for Israel since February 2021 when it opened its first data center in the country. At the time it was the first major cloud provider to offer such a service, though rivals AWS and Google Cloud have since launched their own Israel regions. Microsoft quietly launched its own Israeli region in October 2023.
The company’s Jerusalem data center is housed in a 14,000 sqm (460,000 sq ft) bunker located below five parking levels and a 17-story building in Jerusalem’s Har Hotzvim tech hub. Constructed by Bynet Data Communications, the facility extends over four floors at a depth of 50 meters (160 feet) below ground level.
Underground data centers are a popular option for developers in Israel wanting to ensure security and continuity of service amid the ongoing political tensions in the region.
The cloud and database giant plans to double its investment in the Middle Eastern nation
- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) collaborated with an Israeli firm, Inomize, to develop advanced chips for Meta's future virtual reality technology or "metaverse," Ynet news.com reports.
- Meta will pick 100 of the company's best employees, who will get a chance to work on cutting-edge VR and AR technologies in Meta's "Reality Labs" development center in Tel Aviv.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed the metaverse as the next incarnation of the internet, which will allow billions of people to interact, work and create products and content in what he hopes will be a new ecosystem that makes "millions" of jobs for creators.
- "All of us here at Meta, from Mark Zuckerberg to the last of our engineers, see the future in the metaverse. All of us here are building the tools needed to run the next computing platform," the report quoted Offer Shaham, a senior engineer at Meta's Reality Labs.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime project,” said Tel Aviv-based Lead Architect Vered Gindi of Vered Gindi Architects, who designed the campus as a joint venture with the Israeli and French firm, GSArch. “We started with fundamental questions like ‘Why does a person actually want to come into an office?’ and ‘Why do they need an office at all?’ We aimed to create a space that would continue to be relevant for decades; no matter what comes next.”
Microsoft Israel and the design team landed on a few guiding principles for the development of the new campus. The first principle was to lessen the campus’ long-term impact on the environment, making it as sustainable as possible. The second was to aspire to the dynamic creativity of urban environments over the traditional grids or open-floor plans of most office spaces. And the third was to offer a flexible, inclusive workspace that can be endlessly customized to fit employee needs.
A workplace of the future must justify its existence by mitigating its impact on the environment. Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, CVP and general manager of Microsoft Israel R&D, said, “Microsoft’s sustainability value has been incorporated into every aspect of the campus, and a great deal of thought was put into every detail, from convenient transportation, through accessibility and integration of diverse populations, to wellbeing in food, fitness and leisure.”
It goes without saying that the pandemic has upended work life in 2020. But rather than seeing this period of compulsory remote work as a one-off byproduct of COVID-19, it can be understood as an inflection point in a long-coming technology-driven reckoning on the nature of office work.
Will employees be looking for more ways to connect in person after the pandemic? How about in a decade or 20 years, for that matter? It might seem an odd moment to celebrate the opening of Microsoft’s new state-of-the-art 46,000 square meter campus in Herzliya, Israel, except for that fact that questions around different and creative ways of working were already deliberated when the campus was designed – four years ago.
It goes without saying that the pandemic has upended work life in 2020. But rather than seeing this period of compulsory remote work as a one-off byproduct of COVID-19, it can be understood as an inflection point in a long-coming technology-driven reckoning on the nature of office work.Apple signs solar PPA in Spain
The iPhone maker has signed a deal with ib vogt to offtake 105MWac of solar power from the Castaño Solar project in the province of Segovia, northwest of Madrid.
“Spain has developed to become a major market for solar PV, with significant opportunities for companies to benefit from low-cost, low-carbon solar power," said Anton Milner, CEO of ib vogt.
"This PPA is a perfect example, and I would like to thank all involved parties who helped make this a success and especially Apple, who are partnering with us on this project.
“We have a growing portfolio in Spain with more opportunities for corporate PPA’s through our turn-key solar projects.”
The project, with a peak capacity of 134MWp, will use bifacial solar panels on a single-axis tracker system to maximize energy production.
The solar farm is one of three projects with pay-as-produced fixed price PPAs that ib vogt is currently constructing in the province and is expected to be fully operational in December 2024.
Apple operates a total of seven data centers across the US, Denmark, and China, as well as utilizing a number of colocation sites. The company is a major Google Cloud and AWS customer. The company says all its data centers are powered by renewable energy via PPAs and other agreements.
Apple doesn’t currently operate a data center in Spain.
Founded in 2002 and majority owned by DIF Capital Partners, ib vogt has previously signed a solar PPA with Google in Spain and AirTrunk in Malaysia.
The most popular spectator sports in Israel are association football and basketball.[694] The Israeli Premier League is the country's premier football league, and the Israeli Basketball Premier League is the premier basketball league.[695] Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem are the largest football clubs. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv have competed in the UEFA Champions League and Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. Israel hosted and won the 1964 AFC Asian Cup; in 1970 the Israel national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup, the only time it participated in the World Cup. The 1974 Asian Games, held in Tehran, were the last Asian Games in which Israel participated, plagued by the Arab countries that refused to compete with Israel. Israel was excluded from the 1978 Asian Games and since then has not competed in Asian sport events.[696] In 1994, UEFA agreed to admit Israel, and its football teams now compete in Europe. Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. has won the European championship in basketball six times.[697]
Israel has won nine Olympic medals since its first win in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[698] Israel has won over 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games and is ranked 20th in the all-time medal count. The 1968 Summer Paralympics were hosted by Israel.[699] The Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish and Israeli athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. Krav Maga, a martial art developed by Jewish ghetto defenders during the struggle against fascism in Europe, is used by the Israeli security forces and police. Its effectiveness and practical approach to self-defense, have won it widespread admiration and adherence around the world.[700] Boris Gelfand, chess Grandmaster
Chess is a leading sport in Israel. There are many Israeli grandmasters and Israeli chess players have won a number of youth world championships.[701] Israel stages an annual international championship and hosted the World Team Chess Championship in 2005. The Ministry of Education and the World Chess Federation agreed upon a project of teaching chess within Israeli schools, and it has been introduced into the curriculum of some schools.[702] The city of Beersheba has become a national chess center, with the game being taught in the city's kindergartens. Owing partly to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of chess grandmasters of any city in the world.[703][704] The Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad[705] and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the 2010 Olympiad. Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand won the Chess World Cup 2009.[706]
Zuckerberg's Meta Launches MTIA Chip To Rival Nvidia's AI Offerings In Cloud Business: Here's What You Need To Know
What Happened: On Wednesday, Meta introduced the company’s next-generation custom-made chips designed for AI workloads. The new Meta Training and Inference Accelerator or MTIA chip, an upgrade over the current MTIA v1, is manufactured on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s 5nm process node. The first generation MTIA had TSMC’s 7nm process node.
Meta’s MTIA chip is the company’s first-generation AI inference accelerator, designed in-house for Meta’s AI workload. The chip’s architecture is focused on providing the right balance of compute, memory bandwidth, and memory capacity for serving ranking and recommendation models.
Meta’s long-term goal is to provide the most efficient architecture for its unique workloads. While offering details about its next-generation MTIA chip, the tech giant said that as AI workloads become increasingly important for Meta’s products and services, the efficiency of its MTIA chips will improve its ability to provide the best experiences for its users across the planet.
“This new version of MTIA more than doubles the compute and memory bandwidth of our previous solution while maintaining our close tie-in to our workloads,” Meta stated, adding, “It is designed to efficiently serve the ranking and recommendation models that provide high-quality recommendations to users.”
The ministry sought consulting assistance from Google to expand its Google Cloud access, seeking to allow “multiple units” to access automation technologies, according to a draft contract dated March 27, 2024. The contract shows Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense over $1 million for the consulting service.
The version of the contract viewed by TIME was not signed by Google or the Ministry of Defense. But a March 27 comment on the document, by a Google employee requesting an executable copy of the contract, said the signatures would be “completed offline as it’s an Israel/Nimbus deal.” Google also gave the ministry a 15% discount on the original price of consulting fees as a result of the “Nimbus framework,” the document says.
Exclusive: Google has negotiated deepening the relationship during the war in Gaza.- RealFaceA cybertechnology startup that uses facial recognition technology to authenticate users
- PrimeSenseA Tel Aviv-based company that makes micro chips for 3D technology
- CameraiA camera technology company that developed a cross-platform AR graphics application
- Anboit LtdA company that makes a flash memory component used in iPhones and iPadsThe Times of IsraelApple buys Israel's facial recognition firm RealFace - reportFeb 19, 2017 — Apple Inc. has acquired Israel's Realface, a cybertechnology startup whose facial recognition technology can be used to authenticate users. This is Apple's fourth acquisition in Israel, the financial website Calcalist reported Sunday, and the deal is estimated to be worth a couple of million of dollars.The Times of IsraelApple said to have secretively bought Israel's Camerai, a maker of ...Aug 20, 2020 — US tech giant Apple Inc. has acquired Israeli startup Camerai, a maker of camera technology. The acquisition, totaling some tens of millions of dollars, was kept under wraps, Calcalist financial website reported on Thursday, without providing its information source. Apple acquired the firm more than a year ago, ...Patently AppleLast Year Apple Acquired Israeli Company 'Camerai' who ...Aug 20, 2020 — Last Year Apple Acquired Israeli Company 'Camerai' who developed a Cross-Platform AR Graphics Application. Apple has acquired a number of companies in Israel over the years and the acquired company staff usually begin work at Apple's R&D facilities in both Haifa and Herzliya, a Seaside City in Israel.The Jewish ChronicleApple in £200 million deal for Israeli tech company7 days ago — Apple has bought an Israeli company for more than £200 million. The telecommunications giant bought PrimeSense, a Tel Aviv-based maker of micro chips for 3D technology, for £214 million this week, according to Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist.Apple takes a bite out of Israeli tech company - The Jewish ChronicleTechnology giant Apple has confirmed the purchase of an Israeli company after several weeks of speculation. Anboit Ltd, which makes a flash memory component that can be used in iPhone's and iPad's, was bought by Apple for more than £250 million.
Israel is considered the most advanced country in Western Asia and the Middle East in economic and industrial development.[560][561] As of October 2023, the IMF estimated Israel's GDP at 521.7 billion dollars and Israel's GDP per capita at 53.2 thousand (ranking 13th worldwide), a figure comparable to other highly developed and rich countries.[562] Israel has the second highest poverty rate amongst the world's developed countries, largely due to the high poverty rate amongst Palestinian citizens of Israel.[563] It is the third richest country in Asia by nominal per capita income.[564] Israel has the highest average wealth per adult in the Middle East.[565] The Economist ranked Israel as the 4th most successful economy among the developed countries for 2022.[566] It has the most billionaires in the Middle East, and the 18th most in the world.[567] In recent years Israel had one of the highest growth rates in the developed world.[568] In 2010, it joined the OECD.[34][569] The country is ranked 20th in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report[570] and 35th on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index.[571] Israel was also ranked fifth in the world by share of people in high-skilled employment.[572] Israeli economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.[421]
Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the agricultural and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Imports to Israel, totaling $96.5 billion in 2020, include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, and consumer goods.[289] Leading exports include machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, and textiles and apparel; in 2020, Israeli exports reached $114 billion.[289] The Bank of Israel holds $201 billion of foreign-exchange reserves, the 17th highest in the world.[289] Since the 1970s, Israel has received military aid from the United States, as well as economic assistance in the form of loan guarantees, which now account for roughly half of Israel's external debt. Israel has one of the lowest external debts in the developed world, and is a lender in terms of net external debt (assets vs. liabilities abroad), which in 2015 stood at a surplus of $69 billion.[573]
Israel has the second-largest number of startup companies after the United States,[574] and the third-largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies.[575] It is the world leader for number of start-ups per capita.[576] Israel has been dubbed the "Start-Up Nation".[577][578][579][580] Intel[581] and Microsoft[582] built their first overseas research and development facilities in Israel, and other high-tech multinational corporations have opened research and development centres in the country.
The days which are allocated to working times in Israel are Sunday through Thursday (for a five-day workweek), or Friday (for a six-day workweek). In observance of Shabbat, in places where Friday is a work day and the majority of population is Jewish, Friday is a "short day". Several proposals have been raised to adjust the work week with the majority of the world.[583]
Science and technologyIsrael's development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley.[584][585] Israel is first in the world in expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP.[586] It is ranked 14th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023,[587] and fifth in the 2019 Bloomberg Innovation Index.[588] Israel has 140 scientists, technicians, and engineers per 10,000 employees, the highest number in the world.[589][590][591] Israel has produced six Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2004[592] and has been frequently ranked as one of the countries with the highest ratios of scientific papers per capita.[593][594][595] Israeli universities are ranked among the top 50 world universities in computer science (Technion and Tel Aviv University), mathematics (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and chemistry (Weizmann Institute of Science).[392]
In 2012, Israel was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron's Space Competitiveness Index.[596] The Israel Space Agency coordinates all Israeli space research programmes with scientific and commercial goals, and have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites.[597] Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems.[598] Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit.[599] It was first launched in 1988, making Israel the eighth nation to have a space launch capability. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving on the fatal mission of Space Shuttle Columbia.[600]
The ongoing water shortage has spurred innovation in water conservation techniques, and a substantial agricultural modernization, drip irrigation, was invented in Israel. Israel is also at the technological forefront of desalination and water recycling. The Sorek desalination plant is the largest seawater reverse osmosis desalination facility in the world.[601] By 2014, Israel's desalination programmes provided roughly 35% of Israel's drinking water and it is expected to supply 70% by 2050.[602] As of 2015, more than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is artificially produced.[603] In 2011, Israel's water technology industry was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, Israel is set to become a net exporter of water.[604]
The world's largest solar parabolic dish at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center[605]Israel has embraced solar energy; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology[606] and its solar companies work on projects around the world.[607][608] Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita.[311][609] According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating.[610] The high annual incident solar irradiance at its geographic latitude creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the Negev Desert.[606][607][608] Israel had a modern electric car infrastructure involving a countrywide network of charging stations.[611][612][613] However, Israel's electric car company Better Place shut down in 2013.[614]
EnergyIsrael began producing natural gas from its own offshore gas fields in 2004. In 2009, a natural gas reserve, Tamar, was found near the coast of Israel. A second reserve, Leviathan, was discovered in 2010.[615] The natural gas reserves in these two fields could make Israel energy-secure for more than 50 years. In 2013, Israel began commercial production of natural gas from the Tamar field. As of 2014, Israel produced over 7.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year.[616] Israel had 199 billion bcm of proven reserves of natural gas as of 2016.[617] The Leviathan gas field started production in 2019.[618]
Ketura Sun is Israel's first commercial solar field. Built in 2011 by the Arava Power Company, the field consists of 18,500 photovoltaic panels made by Suntech, which will produce about 9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year.[619] In the next twenty years, the field will spare the production of some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.[620]
The deal was closed on Friday and yesterday the company's staff were notified," business daily TheMarker reported.
"Anobit has developed flash controllers for devices which are reportedly already embedded in Apple's iPads and iPhones," Globes daily added.
Reports on the value of the deal ranged from $300-$400 million, according to TheMarker, to $400-$500 million as reported by the Calcalist daily.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted a welcome message on Tuesday.
"Welcome to Israel, Apple Inc. on your 1st acquisition here," he wrote. "I'm certain that you'll benefit from the fruit of the Israeli knowledge."
Anobit, founded in June 2006, has 200 employees. Company officials could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Globes said that Apple was also about to set up a processor development centre in Israel but it said that the two deals were unrelated.
Calcalist said that Apple vice-president Ed Frank had recently visited Israel to discuss that project, to be located in the northern port city of Haifa.
