National Bio of Israel
The total GDP of Israel is 311.7 billion U.S. dollars, ranking 35th in the world; but its per capita GDP is as high as 476.02 million U.S. dollars, and Taiwan’s is 327.47 million U.S. dollars (IMF data). Israel’s population is only 8.65 million, around one third of Taiwan, and the country is smaller than Taiwan, only 20,770 square kilometers. Resources are even scarcer than Taiwan, and even the water recovery rate must be as high as 90% to survive.
But Israel has always been one of the countries with the largest income gap in the OECD. Because the technology industry is developed, the salary of the technology industry is excellent, and the gap between the rich and the poor is increased. Please see the next paragraph for this part. The natural living environment is difficult, surrounded by deserts, and neighboring countries are all Arab enemies. Hebrew is the official language, but they use English when they enter social work and at university, and they can speak American standard English.
Strong semiconductor industry
Semiconductor multinational companies gather
As of 2023, Israel has gathered more than 500 multinational companies, nearly 200 chip companies and about 8% of the world’s chip design talents, attracting Apple, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, Huawei, Texas Instruments, LG, Hitachi, Marvell, Chip giants such as KLA-Tencor have set up R&D centers locally, and the Israeli semiconductor industry is expected to reach US$1.14 billion in 2023.
Excellent talents
Israel has more than 30,000 chip engineers among its population of less than 10 million. Despite constant wars over the years, no oil, lack of fresh water, and meager resources, it is a well-deserved “chip empire.”
Wafer manufacturing
Tower Semiconductor
Tower Semiconductor, which Intel failed to acquire, owns a 6-inch wafer fab and an 8-inch wafer fab in Israel. It mainly provides customers with mature process foundry services. However, the consumer electronics market has continued to slump this year, and the wafer foundry industry has continued to decline. On the downside, inventories are rising. Tower Semiconductor’s two wafer fabs in Israel are under pressure, and overall performance continues to decline. The financial report shows that Tower Semiconductor’s revenue in the second quarter of 2023 was US$357 million, a year-on-year decrease of 16.2%, and net profit was US$51 million, a decrease of 12.07% from the same period in 2022.
Intel
Intel has also invested in and built a wafer factory Fab 28 in Israel. It has set up three R&D centers and has tens of thousands of employees. It is Israel’s largest exporter. Israelis are very proud of this, and local entrepreneur Jon Medved once joked that Intel should change the slogan “Intel Inside” to “Israel Inside.”
Israeli stock market
Even Israel has a local Tel Aviv stock market, and there are currently 622 companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (comparable to Singapore). All Israeli companies have the goal of listing in the United States. Most of the famous companies are well-known companies in the technology and biotechnology fields, regardless of the size of the company, because they know that only in this way can they survive.
But every year, countless Israeli startups are listed in the United States or acquired by companies from all over the world. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of Israel in June this year, the average salary of nearly 340,000 employees in the technology industry is US$95,000, which is more than twice the average salary of other industries. In 2020, local Israeli media estimated that more than 30,000 Israelis hold more than US$14 billion in stocks, with an average of US$400,000 per person. In the first half of 2021, there were a record 48 IPOs and special purpose acquisitions (SPACs).
Israeli companies listed on U.S. stocks
In 2016, Israel had more than 6,000 new high-tech companies, and the per capita entrepreneurship ranked first in the world. At present, there are 92 Israeli companies listed on NASDAQ, ranking fifth in the world, more than seven times that of Taiwan. Among the high-tech companies listed on Nasdaq in the United States, the number of companies from Israel ranks third in the world. After the United States and China, it ranks third in the world.
Many of the hot start-up companies in the United States are Israeli companies. For example:
| Company name | ticker: | Main business |
| Monday | MNDY | Team and project coordination |
| eToro | FTCV | Fintech |
| NSO | Unlisted | Internet security |
| Fiverr | FVRR | eCommerce |
| Global-E | GLBE | eCommerce |
| Teva Pharmaceutical | TEVA | Biotech and pharmaceutical |
| Cyberark | CYBR | Internet security |
| Check Point | CHKP | Internet security |
| Innoviz | INVZ | LiDAR sensor and software |
| Ituran | IRTN | Device anti-stolen |
| Riskified | RSKD | Anti-fraud |
| Vayyar Imaging | INTC | 3D image sensor |
| JFrog | FROG | DevOps tool |
| Lemonade | LMND | Online insurance |
| Mobileyes | INTC | Self-driving |
| Waze | GOOGL and GOOG | Ride hailing |
| Gett | Unlisted | Ride hailing |
| Cybereason | Unlisted | Internet security |
| Wix.com | WIX | Web development tools |
The ones listed above are just the more famous ones. There are currently more than one hundred Israeli companies listed on the US stock market.
Related articles
The following is an overview of the development of new innovative technologies in some important countries in my blog, or brief articles:
- “Venture capital and unicorns introduction“
- “Global Venture Capital and Unicorn Report“
- “Let’s talk about TikTok “
- “Failed Taiwan Software Industry Policy“
- “The hardware and software gap between China and US, is all China-made software and hardware possible?“
- “Beyond your imagination of Israel’s strong venture capital and tech strength“
- “Reasons of the success Israel’s technology nation“
- “Israel stock market and tech giants“
- “Why emerging market stock with high economic growth is not as rewarding as developed countries?“
- “Global stock markets performance comparision over the past 30 years in a table“
- “Why are only US stocks the most valuable for long-term investment?“
- “India stock tripled in three years to US$3.56 trillion, ranking fourth in the world“
- “Booming India stock market and the emerging Indian tech giants“
- “Indians do well in the US, India’s weak and uncompetitive industries“
- “What is the attraction of Japanese stock market?“
- “Japan is already a country of mediocrity, not as advanced as you think“
- “South Korea’s emerging technology giant“
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