Tal Inbar Appointed New CEO of Apple Israel Development Center

After nine years as CEO of Apple Israel's development center, Roni Friedman is stepping down. Tal Inbar, currently head of the Silicon and Storage development group at the Israeli center, will succeed him as the fourth CEO in the center's history. Inbar will continue managing the Silicon and Storage group alongside his new role, overseeing approximately 2,000 employees.

Inbar began his career as a chip design engineer at Intel before moving in 2006 to lead a development team at the startup Anobit, founded by serial entrepreneur Ariel Maislos. Anobit's hardware controller technology, which enhanced flash storage capacity, attracted Apple's founder Steve Jobs, leading to Apple's acquisition of Anobit in 2013. This acquisition marked Apple's first in Israel and laid the foundation for its development centers in Herzliya and later Haifa.

The technology developed by Anobit remains integral to the flash storage in iPhones, Macs, and iPads. Apple also made further acquisitions in facial and motion recognition technologies from companies founded by entrepreneur Aviad Meizels. Since joining Apple with the Anobit acquisition, Inbar has held various leadership roles and was appointed head of the Silicon and Storage group in September 2020. He contributed to key Apple achievements such as the unified chip architecture across product lines, the development of the Mac M-series processors, and low-power chips for devices like the Apple Watch.

These leadership changes come amid shifts in Apple's global management, with the Israeli development center gaining prominence. Johnny Srouji, who led the Herzliya center's establishment, was recently promoted to Apple's global hardware VP, joining the senior management team close to CEO John Ternus. The Apple Israel center now employs around 2,600 people, reflecting its growing strategic importance within the company.