Registry · NXPI

Does NXP support Israel?

NXP Semiconductors

Business presence documentedupdated 2026-09-26

NXP does business in Israel — we found records of its operations there, but no record of donations, aid, or a public statement of support. Every claim below links to its source.

Filed under: Tech companies · Companies that support Israel

Background

NXP is a Dutch chipmaker, and its Israeli presence is inherited rather than chosen — but it began earlier than the Freescale deal. NXP's own SEC filing dates the arrival to 9 March 2015, when it bought the British smart-card security company Athena SCS Ltd., whose Herzliya development centre had been running since 1999; NXP's 2015 subsidiary list names Athena Smartcard Solutions Limited in Israel. The $11.8 billion Freescale purchase that December added Freescale's much larger Herzliya centre, which NXP shut within weeks as part of merger cost-cutting. In 2019 NXP moved regional sales to its office in Izmir, Turkey — reported by Techtime as the closure of the Israeli sales office and by Chiportal as the cut of a single local sales-manager post — leaving sales to distributors: Future Electronics, Arrow, EBV and, from September 2019, Telsys. The Athena smart-card security centre carried on in Herzliya with about 15 employees, and three Israeli entities still appear in NXP's SEC subsidiary list for 2024. This research found no NXP donations, humanitarian giving, statements or political activity relating to Israel, and nothing tied to the war that began in October 2023. Our records are a floor, not a ceiling.

SEC — NXP Q1 2015 report (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1): "On March 9, 2015, NXP acquired Athena SCS Ltd." SEC — NXP Exhibit 21.1, list of subsidiaries (FY2015): Athena Smartcard Solutions Limited, Israel Chiportal (Hebrew) — "The rumours of NXP Semiconductor's closure in Israel were premature" Techtime (Hebrew), 25 Sep 2019 — "NXP closed its sales office in Israel; Telsys begins distributing it" (Wayback capture, 17 Oct 2019) SEC — NXP Semiconductors Exhibit 21.1, list of subsidiaries (as of 31 Dec 2024)

Timeline of documented records

Documented records

Type	Date	Amount	Recipient	Sources
Acquisition	2015-03-09	—	Athena SCS Ltd. (UK) and its Israeli arm, Athena Smartcard Solutions Limited (Herzliya development centre) NXP's presence in Israel began nine months before the Freescale deal closed. In its first-quarter 2015 report filed with the SEC, NXP states that on 9 March 2015 it acquired Athena SCS Ltd., a UK-registered maker of smart-card and secure-identification security products. NXP's own subsidiary list for 2015 names Athena Smartcard Solutions Limited in Israel, alongside Athena's British and American entities. The Israeli chip-industry site Chiportal reported on 3 October 2019 that this Herzliya development centre had been founded in 1999 and run since its first day by Gil Abel, working on data security for Athena's smart cards. NXP disclosed no price for Athena on its own: the $102 million purchase consideration in its 2015 annual report covers Athena together with the separate Quintic Bluetooth Low Energy and Wearable acquisition, and NXP called both deals individually insignificant to its results. Buying a company is commerce, not a donation or a political commitment.	SEC — NXP Q1 2015 report (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1): "On March 9, 2015, NXP acquired Athena SCS Ltd." SEC — NXP Exhibit 21.1, list of subsidiaries (FY2015): Athena Smartcard Solutions Limited, Israel SEC — NXP 20-F for 2015: Athena and Quintic BTLE/Wearable, $102m aggregate consideration Chiportal (Hebrew) — "The rumours of NXP Semiconductor's closure in Israel were premature"
Acquisition	2015-12	—	Freescale Semiconductor Israel Ltd. (Herzliya development centre) NXP inherited its Israeli operations by buying Freescale Semiconductor for $11.8 billion in cash and shares, a deal completed in December 2015. The Israeli asset was Freescale's Herzliya development centre, which had begun life as Motorola Semiconductor Israel before Freescale was spun out of Motorola; Globes reported the takeover of Freescale's Israel operations at the time. NXP acquired a business here — this is corporate M&A, not a donation or a political commitment.	Globes — NXP takes over Freescale's Israel operations Globes — NXP Israel closes Herzliya center, fires 150-200 (acquisition background)
Operations in Israel	2016-01	—	NXP Israel — Herzliya R&D centre (closed) Weeks after completing the Freescale deal, NXP decided to shut the Herzliya R&D centre and lay off 150–200 employees, part of a plan to cut $500 million a year in merger costs. Globes reported on January 3, 2016 that NXP would keep marketing and sales activity in Israel but no R&D. The centre traced back to Motorola Semiconductor Israel and had been one of Freescale's most important development sites. This is a scaling-down, listed here with its end date so the record is complete. Globes' "no R&D" applies to the Freescale centre: a separate and much smaller Israeli development centre, the one NXP had acquired with Athena SCS in March 2015, carried on in Herzliya.	Globes — NXP Israel closes Herzliya center, fires 150-200 Chiportal (Hebrew) — "The rumours of NXP Semiconductor's closure in Israel were premature"
Operations in Israel	2019-08	—	NXP's Israeli sales operation — folded into NXP's Izmir office in Turkey In September and October 2019 two Israeli trade outlets described the same change differently, eight days apart, and both accounts are recorded here. Techtime reported on 25 September 2019 that NXP had closed its Israeli sales office about a month and a half earlier — so around August 2019 — that Israeli business was now run from NXP's office in Izmir, Turkey, which also covers Turkey, Egypt and Greece, and that sales continued through NXP's Israeli distributors Future Electronics, Arrow and Avnet-owned EBV; it put the remaining staff at about 15 people in Herzliya Pituach, on sales support and on development in security, identification, and mobile and IoT security. On 3 October 2019 Chiportal called the closure headlines premature: on its account NXP had consolidated the region's sales under its Turkish offices and cut a single post, that of the local sales manager, leaving the development centre otherwise unchanged — also about 15 employees, in the Herzliya building that had housed Freescale's large centre and was by then mostly occupied by WeWork. Chiportal wrote that the centre's smart-card work was aimed at the Internet of Things, secure identity cards, and identification and access devices for banking, industry, the defence industry and hospitality; it named no Israeli government or military customer. On either account this is a commercial restructuring, not support.	Techtime (Hebrew), 25 Sep 2019 — "NXP closed its sales office in Israel; Telsys begins distributing it" (Wayback capture, 17 Oct 2019) Chiportal (Hebrew) — "The rumours of NXP Semiconductor's closure in Israel were premature"
Partnership	2019-09	—	Telsys Ltd. — Israeli component distributor listed in Tel Aviv Telsys, an Israeli electronic-component distributor traded in Tel Aviv, signed a non-exclusive distribution agreement with NXP for the territory of Israel in mid-September 2019 — a week before Techtime reported it on 25 September 2019 — joining NXP's existing Israeli distributors Future Electronics, Arrow and EBV. The party acting alongside NXP here is an independent distributor, not an NXP company: Telsys buys NXP parts and resells them, and Telsys's own trading figures are Telsys's, not NXP's. A sales channel is commerce; it carries no donation, no aid and no statement.	Techtime (Hebrew), 25 Sep 2019 — "NXP closed its sales office in Israel; Telsys begins distributing it" (Wayback capture, 17 Oct 2019) One source
Operations in Israel	2024-12	—	NXP's Israeli legal entities (NXP Semiconductors Israel Ltd., Freescale Semiconductor Israel Ltd., NXP Israel Ltd.) NXP's list of subsidiaries filed with the SEC as of December 31, 2024 names three Israeli companies — NXP Semiconductors Israel Ltd., Freescale Semiconductor Israel Ltd. and NXP Israel Ltd. — so the group retained a registered Israeli presence nine years after the Herzliya R&D closure. NXP's own worldwide-locations material describes an Israeli team working on ultra-low-power chip design at near- and sub-threshold voltages. The Israeli headcount is not disclosed in NXP's filings.	SEC — NXP Semiconductors Exhibit 21.1, list of subsidiaries (as of 31 Dec 2024) Startup Nation Central — NXP Semiconductors company profile

Frequently asked questions

Did NXP donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

We have no records of donations. What is on record is commercial activity in Israel (Acquisition, Operations in Israel, Partnership), which is not the same as support — see the records on this page.

Where does this information come from?

Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 9 distinct sources are cited for NXP. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-09-26