Nvidia, the American graphics processing giant, is investing over $500 million in a new artificial intelligence (AI) research and engineering center in northern Israel.
This initiative is part of Nvidia's broader strategy in Israel, following the construction of Israel's most powerful AI supercomputer in May 2023 and the launch of the Israel-1 cloud-based system later that year.
Located in the Mevo Carmel scientific and industrial park near Yokne'am, the new 10,000-square-meter lab will feature advanced AI data center infrastructure with a power capacity of up to 30 megawatts.
Expected to begin operations in the first half of 2025, the center will be equipped with hundreds of liquid-cooled server systems utilizing Nvidia's latest and fastest AI Blackwell chips, along with data processing units developed in Israel, including BlueField-3 SuperNIC, Spectrum-X800, and Quantum-X800.
The lab will support teams developing next-generation software and hardware network technologies and processor designs that will contribute to the AI revolution. Amit Krig, Nvidia's site director in Israel, emphasized the company's commitment to investing in its employees as they work on technologies powering AI.
Nvidia's R&D activities in Israel are already its largest outside the United States. In December 2024, the company finalized the acquisition of Israeli startup Run:ai for approximately $700 million, marking its largest acquisition in Israel since the $7 billion purchase of Mellanox Technologies in 2020.
With over 4,500 employees across seven R&D centers in Israel, Nvidia is looking to fill hundreds of positions as demand for AI computing power continues to surge. Jensen Huang, Nvidia's CEO, predicts that within a decade, AI computing capacities will be a million times greater than today.