Author: Techtime

Eltek Wins $12.2 Million U.S. Defense Contract

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Israeli PCB manufacturer Eltek announced that it has secured new orders totaling $12.2 million from a U.S. defense customer. Under the contract, the company will supply advanced printed circuit boards to be integrated into dedicated military systems, with deliveries scheduled throughout 2026–2027.

Eltek specializes in the production of complex, high-reliability printed circuit boards for demanding sectors such as defense, aerospace, medical and advanced industry. The company provides PCB solutions based on advanced technologies, including multilayer boards and products designed to operate in extreme environmental conditions and mission-critical applications.

The new award is viewed as evidence of the success of a strategic initiative led by Eltek in recent years. The company has invested substantial resources in upgrading manufacturing infrastructure, acquiring advanced equipment and implementing new technologies in order to meet the stringent requirements of international defense and aerospace markets. These investments are intended to enable higher manufacturing precision, shorter lead times and compliance with strict U.S. standards.

According to company management, the U.S. contract demonstrates that these investments are beginning to pay off and positions Eltek as a competitive supplier in the American defense market — one of the largest and most important markets worldwide for printed circuit boards. The win strengthens the company’s standing and expands its international activity, particularly among strategic defense customers.

Eltek views the order as another step in a long-term shift toward higher value-added products and stronger presence in high-budget, technologically demanding markets. The company said it will continue investing in manufacturing capabilities and business development in the United States in order to deepen penetration into the defense sector and broaden its customer base in the coming years.

InnovizSMART Security System Deployed at Critical Infrastructure Sites in Israel

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Israeli LiDAR developer Innoviz announced today, for the first time, that its security solution InnovizSMART has been operationally deployed across several critical-infrastructure sites in Israel. The disclosure marks the product’s first confirmed real-world installations. The system is designed to protect sensitive facilities using 3D LiDAR sensing combined with AI-based analytics. The company recently also reported ramping up mass production of the new platform.

According to Innoviz, the installations were carried out over the past three months and the system is now used to detect, classify and track potential threats around secured facilities. For Innoviz — best known for automotive LiDAR sensors — the move represents a major milestone in entering a new market: infrastructure and security protection.

Alongside the deployment announcement, the company released detailed technical performance data for the first time. InnovizSMART can detect and classify objects at ranges exceeding 450 meters while scanning more than one million data points per second to generate an accurate 3D situational picture.

The system relies on a LiDAR sensor that creates a virtual perimeter fence around a protected site. When suspicious movement is detected within predefined zones, it can automatically activate surveillance cameras for visual verification and distinguish in real time between different target types — humans, vehicles or animals. The company highlights its ability to detect movement even behind physical obstacles such as trees and bushes, as well as operate in challenging weather conditions.

The platform integrates with existing enterprise security systems, including video-management and access-control platforms, and can track multiple targets simultaneously — a key requirement in complex security environments.

InnovizSMART originated as an adaptation of the company’s core automotive technology to the security sector. Over the past year Innoviz has actively promoted the product as part of a broader strategy to expand beyond the automotive market, which is characterized by long sales cycles and heavy dependence on major car manufacturers.

The company views InnovizSMART as a strategic growth engine with commercial potential across infrastructure protection, smart-city and intelligent-transportation markets. Unlike automotive deals, security projects typically move faster and generate revenue on shorter timelines.

As a result, the current operational deployment in Israel carries significance beyond the technological aspect: it serves as the product’s first commercial proof-point and signals a shift from announcements and pilot programs to real installations at paying customers.

The global infrastructure-security market is considered one of the faster-growing segments in the defense industry, with rising demand for advanced sensing capable of reliable detection in complex environments. Innoviz’s LiDAR technology competes with traditional solutions such as cameras and radar, offering higher accuracy and fewer false alerts.

Barak Light Guard security system unveiled

As part of its broader expansion into the defense and smart-perimeter-security markets, Innoviz also hosted an unveiling event this week at its headquarters for the Barak Light Guard system, developed jointly with Drive Group and Cogniteam. Senior representatives from the defense establishment and national infrastructure companies attended to evaluate the solution, which combines Innoviz LiDAR sensors with advanced AI algorithms.

Launched roughly six months ago, the system is designed to protect borders, communities and critical infrastructure, providing real-time alerts on intrusions and suspicious movement. It integrates Innoviz LiDAR with Cogniteam AI to identify and classify stationary and moving objects at distances of up to approximately 400 meters, even under poor visibility and harsh weather conditions.

Intel Cancels Manufacturing Agreement With Tower; Companies Enter Arbitration

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[Image above: Intel’s Fab 11 facility where Tower’s chips were manufactured. Photo: Intel]

Intel has withdrawn from its joint manufacturing agreement with Tower Semiconductor at Intel’s Fab 11X chip manufacturing facility in New Mexico, USA. Following the cancellation, the two companies entered arbitration proceedings. Tower has begun transferring customer production from Intel’s facility to its own Fab7 plant in Japan. The development was disclosed in a brief note at the end of Tower’s quarterly report released yesterday.

The manufacturing agreement was signed in September 2023, about three weeks after Intel’s planned acquisition of Tower was terminated. The deal allowed Intel to utilize a largely idle factory producing older-generation technologies. At the time, Intel Foundry Services (IFS) senior executive Stuart Pann said Tower’s investment would enable the equipment to be activated while Intel provided manufacturing services at the site.

Under the agreement, Tower committed to invest approximately $300 million to transfer processes and install production equipment, which would remain its property. In return, IFS would provide manufacturing services for power devices and RF SOI wireless solutions at volumes exceeding 60,000 wafers per month. For Tower, the deal provided significant capacity without building a new fab, using 300mm wafers that offer lower overhead and higher profitability.

Tower now says it transferred manufacturing processes originally developed at its Fab7 facility in Japan to New Mexico, qualified them and began serving customers. The company is currently moving those customers back to Fab7 in order to maintain supply continuity and service levels.

Record 2025 revenue

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tower’s revenue grew about 14% year over year to approximately $440 million. Full-year 2025 revenue reached a record $1.57 billion, representing 9% growth compared with $1.44 billion in 2024. The company expects first-quarter 2026 revenue of about $412 million, roughly 15% growth year over year.

While the global semiconductor market expanded by more than 26% during this period, the primary growth driver was large advanced-node chips for data centers and AI — areas outside Tower’s core business.

Nearly $1 billion investment in capacity expansion

Tower is currently expanding manufacturing infrastructure for silicon photonics (SiPho) and silicon-germanium (SiGe) components, key technologies for communications and high-frequency RF applications. The company recently added another $270 million to the project, bringing total investment to about $920 million.

The goal is to complete installation and qualification by the fourth quarter of 2026 and begin full mass production in 2027. The project is expected to increase SiGe and SiPho production capacity fivefold compared with the fourth quarter of 2025.

Tower’s improving performance has been reflected in its stock price over the past year. The company now trades at roughly $140 per share on Nasdaq, compared with less than $50 a year ago. Even the dispute with Intel has not shaken the stock, which currently values Tower at about $15.1 billion.

The AI Marketing Paradox: How Cutting-Edge Tech is Taking Us Back to the Stone Age

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By Leehee Gerti, VP Marketing at CodeValue

While we marvel at the rapid evolution of Large Language Models (LLMs), we often overlook a fascinating constant: the “human machine” remains virtually unchanged. The biological hardware we use to process information is essentially the same version released tens of thousands of years ago.

This paradox is now redefining the world of marketing. As we race toward the future, we are actually circling back to our most primitive roots: the story told around the campfire.

The Death of the Click

For decades, the holy grail of digital marketing was the “Number One Spot” on Google. We optimized, we backlinked, and we fought for every pixel of search engine real estate. But in the last few months, that world has shifted beneath our feet.

The era of the “Zero-Click Search” is here. Today, roughly 84% of search queries are influenced by AI Overviews. When an AI-generated answer appears at the top of the screen, the Click-Through Rate (CTR) for organic results plummets by about 48%. Users no longer need to visit your website; they get the answer directly from the interface.

The traditional SEO model is dying a swift death. The question is no longer “Who ranks first?” but rather “Who does the AI trust enough to cite?”

Becoming the AI’s Primary Source

In this new landscape, we aren’t just promoting websites; we are feeding the “Collective Intelligence.” To succeed, we must transition from site-builders to authoritative knowledge sources.

AI engines don’t just look for keywords; they look for signals of authority and trust. Google’s core updates over the last two years, specifically the June “Better surface relevant, satisfying content” update, have made one thing clear: generic, thin, or AI-generated “filler” content will be penalized.

Instead, the algorithms are hungry for EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. We have returned to a logic as old as time: History is written by the victors, and in 2026, the victors are those whose content the AI deems credible enough to learn from.

High-Tech, Low-Logic: The Campfire Methodology

To resonate with both the AI and the human behind the screen, our content must feel original, natural, and logical – much like a story a parent reads to a child.

The AI looks for the human touch. It seeks out the expertise of real people within your organization. It looks for a holistic story, not isolated units of information, but a narrative where every “chapter” (or page) connects to a larger, authoritative whole.

The more advanced our innovation becomes, the more we are forced to return to the basics of human communication:

  1. Originality: If the AI can find it elsewhere, you are redundant.
  2. User Experience: If a human can’t navigate it easily, the AI won’t trust it.
  3. Human Expertise: Real-world experience is the only thing AI cannot simulate (yet).

Practical Tips for the Zero-Click Era

If you want to survive the marketing shift, you must understand who controls the knowledge:

  • Want to appear in ChatGPT? Remember it relies heavily on Bing’s index. Your presence in Microsoft-friendly ecosystems matters.
  • Want to dominate Gemini? You need a powerhouse presence on YouTube. Google’s AI prioritizes its own massive video repository to verify “human” expertise.
  • The LLM Training Ground: Understand that if you are the source the model “learns” from, you are the source it will cite.

Final Thought

We used to talk to algorithms; now we talk to “entities” that think like humans. By focusing on authentic, expert-led content, we aren’t just “hacking” the system, we are honoring the ancient human need for a reliable story.

The future of marketing isn’t found in a line of code. It’s found in the same place it was 30,000 years ago: in the power of a trusted voice.

 

MS Tech Develops Biological Sensor for On-Site Monitoring of Soil Contamination

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By Yohai Schwiger

Herzliya-based MS Tech has been awarded a research and development grant of approximately $1.7 million from the Israel Innovation Authority to develop a new generation of bio-sensors designed for real-time monitoring and diagnosis of soil and groundwater contaminants. The grant was awarded as part of the national “Green Soil” consortium, established in 2025 and led by Elbit Systems, which brings together 16 industrial companies and academic institutions to develop and implement advanced biological technologies for the treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater.

The goal of the project is to create a solution capable of mapping areas affected by pollutants such as fuels, industrial chemicals, PFAS contaminants (persistent chemicals that are difficult to break down), and explosive residues. Today, contamination assessment relies almost entirely on expensive and time-consuming laboratory tests that require the collection and shipment of numerous samples to specialized facilities. This process often leads to lengthy projects, high costs, and delays of months or even years in the development of new urban areas.

“There is a real technological gap today,” says Doron Shalom, CEO of MS Tech, in an interview with Techtime. “There are very few systems that can analyze soil directly in the field. Everything is based on laboratory work, which is cumbersome and expensive. The ability to conduct on-site testing in real time is a revolution that will change the way contaminated soils are handled.”

The new sensors being developed by MS Tech are designed to do exactly that—enable rapid identification of contaminants within seconds, without the need for heavy laboratory equipment. The global market for soil monitoring and remediation is considered one of the fastest-growing segments in the environmental sector and is estimated at tens of billions of dollars annually, with major activity centers in the United States, Europe, China, and Canada. Hundreds of thousands of former industrial sites and decommissioned military bases require precise mapping before they can be cleared for redevelopment, driving growing demand for fast and cost-effective solutions. In Israel alone, the market is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sensor Sensitivity Depends on the Coating

To understand the significance of the new project, it is necessary to examine the core technology behind MS Tech. Unlike traditional “chemical sensors”—which are based on analytical chemistry, electro-chemical reactions, or ionizing radiation and typically require bulky laboratory equipment, reagents, and lengthy testing processes—MS Tech has developed an advanced physical sensing platform built on quartz crystals. These crystals offer exceptional frequency stability and high sensitivity to minute changes in mass. After precise processing and calibration, they vibrate at highly accurate frequencies. When molecules of a specific substance bind to the surface of the crystal, they cause a tiny but measurable shift in vibration frequency—a change that can be detected in real time with high precision.

The company coats the crystals with specialized layers of polymers, antigens, and other molecular materials that function as selective chemical “filters.” Each coating reacts to a different type of molecule, effectively turning the crystal into a sensor tailored to identify a specific substance. By combining several differently coated crystals in a single system, MS Tech can detect a broad range of contaminants, distinguish between them, and deliver near-instant results—without complex chemical processes and without the need for laboratory infrastructure.

MS Tech was founded in 1998 by veterans of Israel’s defense industries and initially focused on developing sensors for detecting explosives for the Israeli defense establishment and the U.S. Pentagon. At the time, most detection systems relied on heavy analytical chemistry and ionizing radiation. The company chose a different path—developing miniature nano-sensors and bio-sensors based on physical sensing principles.

“For years, most technologies in this field were based on analytical chemistry and ionizing radiation,” says Shalom. “Those methods cannot compete with the world of nano-technology and bio-sensors that can be miniaturized and used in the field—that’s where our advantage lies. Our sensors are built on natural quartz crystals that deliver high sensitivity and fast response times, and we apply selective coatings of various types. Each coating turns the crystal into a dedicated sensor by defining its frequency and sensitivity. Over the years, we expanded into additional fields and became a national knowledge center in bio-sensing.”

Security Screening at Airports in India

Alongside its activity in homeland security and defense, MS Tech operates in medical diagnostics, food safety, and environmental monitoring, and its products are used in more than 72 countries. One of its major growth engines in recent years has been the security screening market for airports, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The company recently announced significant contracts for deploying advanced detection systems at several airports in India—a market that has become a central focus of its operations.

“We are very strong in the security sector, especially in baggage screening at airports,” says Shalom. “Our main growth wave right now is in the Far East, and particularly in India. At the same time, we are entering new application areas such as drones, humanoid robots, and even mobile devices that in the future will be able to perform chemical sensing tests.”

According to Shalom, the move into contaminated soil monitoring is a natural extension of the company’s core capabilities. “Our technology is dual-use—it fits both security and civilian applications. The contaminated soil market is worth billions of dollars. When you know in real time what the contamination profile of a site is, you can make the right decisions about remediation and development. That saves time and money.”

The project under the “Green Soil” consortium marks a strategic shift for MS Tech from its traditional focus on defense toward environmental and agri-tech applications, while relying on the same technological platform it has developed over nearly three decades. If successful, it could transform soil monitoring from a lengthy laboratory process into a fast and accessible field tool—and open up a significant new global market for the company.

AIR and ST Engineering Unveil Cargo UAV for the European Market

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AIR and Singapore-based ST Engineering announced at the Singapore Airshow the launch of a new unmanned eVTOL aircraft named DrN-600, along with a strategic partnership to market the platform across Europe and Asia. The announcement represents a significant step for both companies and positions the new aircraft as a dedicated solution for cargo and aerial logistics missions in commercial markets.

The DrN-600 is an electric aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kilograms, designed specifically to comply with European regulatory requirements for unmanned aviation. According to the official announcement, the platform is intended for short- to medium-range flights, reliable autonomous operations, and logistics missions in remote areas or environments with limited infrastructure. It is built on AIR’s core technological architecture and integrates advanced control systems, high operational reliability, and a configuration tailored for intensive commercial use.

A central element of the announcement is the emphasis on aligning the aircraft with the standards of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Unlike conventional cargo drones, the DrN-600 was conceived from the outset as a full-fledged aviation platform, designed to undergo formal certification processes similar to those required for manned aircraft. This entails stringent requirements in areas such as system safety, reliability, redundancy, advanced autonomous control, and comprehensive engineering documentation. This approach underscores AIR’s clear intention to deliver not merely a technology demonstrator, but an industrial-grade platform capable of legal and commercial operation in European airspace.

Europe Opens Its Skies

Compared with AIR’s previous cargo variant, which was primarily aimed at the U.S. market and limited experimental or operational deployments, the DrN-600 appears to represent a significant evolution. While the earlier model focused mainly on proving feasibility and enabling initial autonomous cargo missions, the new aircraft has been designed from the ground up to meet stricter regulatory demands and operate within a fully regulated environment. This suggests enhancements in control systems, safety levels, redundancy mechanisms, and the ability to integrate with European air traffic management systems.

The decision to focus on the European market is far from coincidental. Europe is currently regarded as one of the most advanced regions in the world in terms of regulation for unmanned aircraft and aerial logistics. Many European countries are promoting legal frameworks for the operation of drones and eVTOL platforms over populated areas, while also developing dedicated infrastructure for unmanned air traffic management. For AIR, compliance with EASA requirements opens the door to a broad market of commercial operators, logistics companies, and advanced delivery service providers.

An Israeli–Singaporean Partnership

AIR was founded in Israel in 2018 and specializes in the development of advanced electric aircraft for commercial applications. In recent years, the company has completed significant funding rounds, obtained preliminary regulatory approvals in the United States, and conducted numerous flight demonstrations. AIR operates in both the autonomous cargo sector and the development of light manned aircraft, aiming to establish itself as a key player in the emerging field of advanced air mobility.

Its Singaporean partner in the project, ST Engineering, is one of the largest engineering and technology groups in Asia and globally. The company is active in aviation, defense, electronics, and transportation, and brings extensive experience in the development and maintenance of advanced aerospace systems.

As part of the collaboration, ST Engineering will contribute industrial expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and system integration resources. It will also work to incorporate its DroNet ground control system into the new platform. The partnership with ST Engineering and the launch of the DrN-600 signal AIR’s transition from technological innovation to global commercialization. If the aircraft delivers on its regulatory and operational promises, it could become one of the first platforms to bring autonomous, electric aerial logistics to widespread commercial use in Europe.

SolarEdge Ships US.-Made Inverters to Europe

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photo above: SolarEdge’s solutions portfolio

SolarEdge has ramped up production at its three manufacturing facilities in the United States and has begun shipping U.S.-made products to Europe. This move marks the culmination of a process that has been unfolding gradually for more than a year and now appears to be complete. The company has shut down manufacturing operations in China, Mexico, and Hungary, while retaining a limited production footprint in Asia, primarily through a contract manufacturer in Vietnam.

In Israel, SolarEdge continues to operate the Sela-1 manufacturing facility, located in the Ziporit industrial zone. This site is dedicated to short production runs and manufacturing optimization, leveraging its proximity to the company’s R&D center in Israel.

The Texas facility focuses on single-phase inverter production, the Utah plant specializes in residential battery systems, and the Florida site manufactures three-phase inverters and solar panel power optimizers. The scope of this transformation was disclosed during the company’s earnings call in September 2025. The CEO, Shuki Nir, stated that SolarEdge intends to anchor the majority of its manufacturing in the United States. “We plan to manufacture in the U.S. and distribute U.S.-made products both locally and globally for many years to come.”

Today, SolarEdge employs approximately 3,400 people worldwide. While the company does not provide a geographic breakdown, it reported in June 2025 that its three U.S. manufacturing plants employ around 2,000 workers. This week, SolarEdge announced a key milestone in executing its new manufacturing strategy: the shipment of its first U.S.-made residential inverters to Europe, with initial deliveries to Italy, France, and the Netherlands. The company is now preparing for the first European shipments of its commercial and industrial systems, scheduled to leave the Florida plant in early 2026.

The Generic Solution Strategy

Alongside the reconfiguration of its global manufacturing footprint, SolarEdge is redefining its portfolio to improve marketability while streamlining manufacturing, logistics, and the supply chain. Under this new approach, the company is consolidating product lines to reduce the number of SKUs, with each SKU designed to serve multiple applications or markets. SolarEdge refers to this strategy as Single SKU—an ambition to deliver a unified model, or a very small set of models, capable of addressing a broad range of use cases and geographies, instead of maintaining a large portfolio of distinct variants. In Europe, this concept is marketed under the name MultiRange.

For example, rather than producing separate inverters for Europe and the U.S., SolarEdge aims to manufacture a single inverter platform, with market- or application-specific customization handled through software, configuration settings, or auxiliary components. The company has indicated that this approach will be implemented in upcoming products, including the SolarEdge Nexis Solution, an integrated residential system combining solar energy generation and storage.

The goal is to deliver a unified platform that supports solar production, energy storage, self-consumption, and backup power during grid outages. SolarEdge is now applying the same design philosophy to its commercial and industrial product lines, with the objective of aligning them as well with the Single SKU strategy.