Intel

Intel Corporation is a multinational semiconductor company that designs and manufactures microprocessors, memory chips, and computing hardware. It is controlled by institutional shareholders including BlackRock and Vanguard. Intel is on the official BDS priority list due to its complicity in supporting apartheid Israel.

Israeli Operations and Expansion

Intel's December 2023 announcement of a $25 billion chip manufacturing expansion in Israel occurred during military operations in Gaza that the International Court of Justice found constitute genocide. This investment, supported by a $3.2 billion Israeli government grant, represented Intel's largest international manufacturing commitment.

The expansion was planned for Kiryat Gat, located less than 42 kilometers from Gaza and built on land from the ethnically cleansed Palestinian village of Iraq al-Manshiyya. Intel's 50-year presence in Israel has generated $86 billion in exports comprising 3.3%-5% of Israel total exports, $27 billion in investments, and $25 billion in procurements in Israel, representing 1.75% of Israel's entire GDP and making Intel the most economically significant foreign corporation in the country.

Intel enjoys tax privileges, paying just 7.5% corporate tax in Israel—considerably below the standard 23% rate. Since 2017, it has spent nearly $20 billion acquiring Israeli tech firms including Mobileye ($15.3 billion), Habana Labs ($2 billion), and Moovit ($1 billion)

Israeli Military Technology Supplier

Intel supplies processors for Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer, which are used in handheld tactical computers deployed by the Israeli occupation military. Elbit is a major actor and enabler of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, with its technologies embedded in operations targeting Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.

In 2018, Intel established an artificial intelligence research center in collaboration with The Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, an institution central to the development of weapons systems used by the Israeli military.

Currently, approximately 15%-17% of Intel’s Israeli workforce is actively serving in the Israeli military’s reserve forces.

CEO and Upper-Management Support for Israeli Operations

Previous CEO Pat Gelsinger (until December 2024), having made over 100 visits to Israel and describing Intel's relationship with the country as “deeply personal”, maintained company operations throughout the Gaza conflict while publicly expressing unwavering support for Israeli employees. In October 2024, marking one year since the October 7 attacks, Gelsinger praised Intel Israel staff for handling “an impossible situation” and commended their resilience amid tumultuous conditions, stating:

I am just in awe of the way you have handled an impossible situation. Time and again, I've seen how you’ve supported one another and stepped up for our business—all while processing an unimaginable level of emotion at home with your families and in your communities... It's important to draw strength from our solidarity as you gather to honor those we have lost—and may their memory be a blessing. …As you do, from across the world, we’ll be looking out for you.

Gelsinger further emphasized that Intel’s large footprint and legacy in Israel were a matter of personal and corporate commitment, underlining his close bonds with Israeli colleagues.

In October 2023, Daniel Benatar, Intel’s Worldwide Manufacturing General Manager and Co-General Manager for Israel, made public statements expressing support for the Israeli military and state. He described deep personal "pride" in living in Israel, overtly praising the IOF while they were committing a genocide in Gaza.

BDS Campaign Success

The #BoycottIntel campaign launched by the Palestinian-led BDS movement achieved a victory yet when Intel halted construction of the $25 billion facility in June 2024. The campaign targeted Intel as a manufacturer of "apartheid chips" and called for comprehensive boycotts, divestment, and institutional exclusion.

Intel is still a BDS target, as it remain deeply complicit in apartheid Israel. it's the largest private employer in Israel and contributes significantly to the Israeli economy and invests heavily in Israel.

Military-Industrial Complex Integration

Intel operates as an embedded partner of the US military-industrial complex, with over $20 billion in US government contracts. Notable programs include:

• Secure Enclave: Expand production lines for military-use semiconductors. Received $3 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act of the U.S. government in 2024.
• Intel Federal Division: Manages relationships with the Department of War, NSA, and major war contractors (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Mercury Systems).
• RAMP-C Program: Since 2021, Intel has been the U.S. Department of War's lead commercial foundry partner to prototype and produce secure custom chips for war and government use.
• SHIP Program: A $156 million U.S. Department of War initiative with Intel to develop chip in U.S. facilities for war and intelligence use.
• Altera Subsidiary: Delivers field-programmable gate arrays for radar, electronic warfare, and surveillance infrastructure across US and allied military sites.
• Altera (Intel Subsidiary): Provides equipments (FPGAs) used in radar, electronic warfare, communications, and surveillance systems developed by U.S. and allied war contractors.

In 2025, the US government became a major Intel shareholder via an $8.9 billion equity investment. Military-related programs generate substantial revenue for intel.

Intel's corporate governance structure is dominated by the U.S. Government (10%), BlackRock (8.9%), Vanguard (8.8%) and its mutual funds (7.6%) totalling around 36% of the total shares of the company.

Surveillance Technology

Since 2008, Intel has embedded the Management Engine (IME) into virtually every processor - a separate microcomputer that operates independently of the main operating system and runs even when computers are turned off. The IME has direct access to system memory, network interfaces, keyboards, and screens while running encrypted code that cannot be audited by users.

Security researchers have demonstrated the IME's capability to enable keylogging, screen capture, remote system control, and persistent rootkits that survive operating system reinstalls. The 2017 "Silent Bob is Silent" vulnerability (CVE-2017-5689) affected systems from 2008-2017, allowing complete remote takeover of millions of devices.

Most significantly, researchers in 2017 discovered an undocumented "reserve_hap" bit that disables the IME, created specifically at the NSA's request for the "High Assurance Platform" program. This hidden kill switch, present in retail computers but documented only for government use, proves Intel built backdoor access for U.S. intelligence agencies while publicly denying such capabilities exist.

Intel Capital Investments

Sources:

• Al Jazeera Israel grants Intel $3.2bn for new $25bn chip plant
• BAE Systems BAE Systems, Intel, Qorvo, and U.S. Department of Defense celebrate delivery of microelectronics advancements to the defense industrial base
• BDS Movement Apartheid Chips - #BoycottIntel
• BDS Movement Press Release: BDS movement launches #BoycottIntel global campaign
• BDS Movement Part 4: Intel halts $25B investment in Israel's sinking economy
• BDS Movement #DropINTEL FACT SHEET
• BDS Movement Elbit Systems: War Criminals and Genocidaires Face Financial Woes
• Ctech Intel will provide employees in Israel with up to $3,000 for personal expenses related to the war
• Ctech "We’ll be looking out for you": Intel CEO Gelsinger stands with Israeli team
• Department of War Department of Defense & Department of Commerce Joint Statement: Announcement in Support of the Manufacture of Microelectronics and Advanced Semiconductors for National Security
• Electronic Frontier Foundation Intel's Management Engine is a security hazard, and users need a way to disable it
• European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine Beyond dual use: Israeli universities’ role in the military-security-industrial complex
• GovconWire Intel Adds Boeing, Northrop to DOD Commercial Chip Fabrication Program’s Phase 2
• Intel Intel in Israel
• Intel Intel Collaborates on New AI Research Center at Technion, Israel’s Technological Institute
• Intel Intel Awarded up to $3B by the Biden-Harris Administration for Secure Enclave
• Intel Intel and Trump Administration Reach Historic Agreement to Accelerate American Technology and Manufacturing Leadership
• LinkedIn Daniel Benatar
• Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin, Intel Sign Agreement to Advance 5G-Ready Communications for U.S., Allied Defense Systems
• Mercury Systems Our Partnership with Intel
• Northrop Grumman Hardening the Future
• NSA NSA Cybersecurity Collaboration Center
• Palestine Remembered Aerial view of Iraq Manshiyya shoing exactly were Intel's FAB-18 factory located on Palestinian looted lands - 'Iraq al-Manshiyya - Gaza - عراق المنشية (עיראק אל-מנשיה) - Palestine Remembered
• Reuters Intel to invest $25 billion in Israel factory in record deal, Netanyahu says
• Reuters Intel's $15 billion purchase of Mobileye shakes up driverless car sector
• Reuters US to take 10% equity stake in Intel, in Trump's latest corporate move
• Reuters Intel buys Israeli AI startup Habana Labs for $2 billion
• TechCrunch Intel to buy smart urban transit startup Moovit for $1B to boost its autonomous car division
• The Times of Israel Intel clinches $3.2b government grant for $25b chip plant expansion in southern Israel
• Trend Micro Mitigating an Intel Management Engine Vulnerability
• Wikipedia Intel Management Engine
• Ynet Intel's Israeli arm conquers all goals amid a war-infused reality