An illustration of Mobileye's Jerusalem global development center. (Mobileye)

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The cornerstone of Mobileye’s new global development center in Jerusalem was laid on Tuesday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , together with Economy Minister Eli Cohen, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Mobileye president and CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua.Some 2,700 employees are expected to work at the eight-story center once complete, which will span 50,000 square meters above ground and 78,000 square meters underground. The new center, on the corner of Golda Meir Blvd. and Shlomo HaLevi St., will contain 56 meeting rooms and development laboratories covering 1,400 square meters.“I see the expansion of this campus as a sign of the future, and there will be more companies that follow it, both as sub-contractors and those who develop their own technologies,” said Netanyahu, who devoted much of his speech at the cornerstone ceremony to responding to threats against Israel made by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. “This is a very big thing and it also a great day for the State of Israel, because we are in the midst of a major revolution. The revolution is changing the global economy at a pace and dramatic manner that we have not witnessed since we started tracking the history of economics.”Designed by architect Moshe Tzur and constructed by the Tel Aviv-listed Afcon Holdings Group, the center is scheduled to open in October 2022.“The largest investment in the history of the State of Israel is underway,” Cohen wrote on social media. “An investment that will propel the Israeli economy and Jerusalem forward, and add lots of jobs.”US chip giant Intel purchased the Jerusalem-based vision technology company for a record $15.3 billion in August 2017, the largest sale or “exit” of an Israeli company to date.Founded in 1999, Mobileye says more than 40 million vehicles worldwide are equipped with its collision-avoidance technology. In 2016, Mobileye and Intel joined forces with the BMW Group with the target of serial production of Level 3-5 autonomous vehicles by 2021.