Apple Inc., the famed producer of Macintosh computers, the iPhone, iPad and iPod is in talks to open an R&D center in Israel, its first outside Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. An Apple delegation, headed by Vice President for Research and Development Ed Frank, is currently in Israel for meetings with the heads of a number of Israeli high-tech companies. One option on the table is buying the Herzliya Pituach-based Anobit Technologies Ltd., which develops flash-memory based storage solutions for smart phones, tablet computers and media players. Anobit employs about 200 workers and its chips can be found in Apple's main product lines including the iPad, MacBook Air, and iPhone. If Apple closes the deal to acquire Anobit, which is valued at $300-$400 million, Apple will keep the company's research and development in Israel as well as build a new development center in the Matam Industrial Park south of Haifa, an especially desirable location due to its proximity to the prestigious Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The R&D center would focus not only on developing flash memory technologies, but also develop the microprocessor chips for most Apple A5 devices. "Anobit makes flash memory devices that can use the popular Multi Level Cell (MLC) flash-based solid-state drives," Erica Ogg wrote on the Gigaom technology blog. "Consumer devices use MLC flash because its cheaper, but its also generally less reliable than the more common Single Level Cell flash drives. Anobits technology makes MLC more reliable. And that better reliability is the play that Apple could be going for." Anobit is currently in the process of raising capital from investors on the order of tens of millions of dollars.
Apple plants seeds for future growth with Israeli know-how
Apple's first R&D center outside California may be in Israel • Apple also in talks to buy flash memory technology firm Anobit Technologies Ltd. for $400 million or more.
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