We've heard that Apple intends to step up hiring at a new research center in Israel, and here is more evidence of that effort. Two new job listings have appeared on Apple's site for physical design engineers in Haifa, Israel, showing that Apple is getting serious about building out its new R&D center.

These engineers will work on designs for "system-on-a-chip" implementations. Which, of course, is exactly the kind of technology that Apple is so good at stuffing into tiny mobile devices. The open positions are high level placements, with job requirements that expect to see these SoC designs from beginning to end. It'll probably take Apple a while to fill these positions with the right people, so we likely won't see actual chips come out of these facilities for a while. But the company clearly has an eye forward to making the site there an important one for Apple's future devices.