Apple agreed to buy semiconductor designer Anobit Technologies Ltd., Calcalist reported Dec. 20. On the same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office posted on its Twitter account a message congratulating Apple "on your first acquisition here," without naming the target company. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, declined to elaborate.
Anobit, founded in 2006 and based in Herzliya Pituach, and investor Pitango Venture Capital declined to comment. Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to comment on "rumor and speculation."
International investments may not be the answer to the needs of Israel's startups because the smaller number of local financiers poses a risk to the industry's independence, said Abraham Peled, executive chairman of Staines, England-based digital-television coding developer NDS Group Plc.
"The minute Israeli high-tech is primarily based on development centers of major companies, their fortune will be tied to that of those companies so that, if they are cutting staff, they will cut in Israel as well," Peled said.