Start-up nation stymied as geek shortage curbs tech boom

Tel Aviv

ISRAEL'S technology miracle is threatened by a dearth of people in the very professions that made it happen: engineers and computer scientists.

Companies such as the US units of SanDisk and Broadcom said that finding qualified workers is one of their biggest problems. And the shortage may worsen as fewer students sign up for the most advanced mathematics classes, the building block for technology careers. This in an economy whose health depends on exports - about one-third of them - from technology companies.