By: Carl Schwartzbaum

In a bold affirmation of its long-term commitment to Israel’s high-tech sector, American semiconductor titan Nvidia has announced plans to construct a vast new technology campus in the country’s north — a multibillion-dollar endeavor poised to reshape the regional economy and supercharge Israel’s position at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation.

According to a report that appeared on Sunday in The Times of Israel, Nvidia issued a formal Request for Information (RFI) on Sunday, initiating its search for a plot of land between 70 and 120 dunams — roughly 30 acres — in the Zichron Yaakov, Haifa, or Jezreel Valley regions. The site must be zoned for high-density construction, capable of supporting a sprawling campus between 80,000 and 180,000 square meters. The company, now valued at nearly $4 trillion after overtaking Microsoft and Apple, has hired global real estate consulting firm Colliers to lead the search, with a deadline for submissions set for July 23.

“It’s a very sizable investment, and to decide to locate it in Israel goes a long way and is a sign of confidence in the Israeli high-tech ecosystem,” Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, told The Times of Israel. “This declaration is mutually beneficial: Nvidia is enjoying the benefits of the local ecosystem and talent, and the ecosystem will enjoy this big investment.”

Bin emphasized that the proposed campus could become one of the largest technology hubs in the nation’s history, with profound economic and technological implications. In addition to creating thousands of high-skilled jobs, the initiative will likely stimulate secondary economic growth among suppliers, contractors, and satellite tech ventures in the surrounding region.

As reported by The Times of Israel, Nvidia’s announcement comes amid surging global demand for the company’s high-performance processors — critical components for training and running the world’s most sophisticated AI models. With Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Tesla all racing to dominate the AI infrastructure landscape, Nvidia has emerged as the industry’s keystone player, supplying the essential “engines” for next-generation computation.

“When you develop and produce a car, the most important thing is the engine,” Bin told The Times of Israel. “The technology that Nvidia is developing is the engine for developing, training, and running AI models. Without this physical infrastructure, there will be no advanced AI.”

Israel, he noted, is uniquely positioned to support this mission. As a global leader in chip design, Israel hosts significant R&D operations for Intel, Apple, and other multinational firms. Nvidia’s growing investments in the country are a testament to the value of Israeli talent and innovation in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors.

Nvidia is far from a newcomer to the Israeli tech landscape. As The Times of Israel has extensively covered, the firm made its most significant Israeli acquisition to date in 2020, when it purchased Mellanox Technologies — a Yokne’am-based leader in high-speed server and networking technologies — for $7 billion. That deal laid the foundation for what has since become Nvidia’s largest R&D operation outside the United States, with over 5,000 employees across seven development centers nationwide.

Earlier this year, Nvidia completed another major acquisition: Run:ai, an Israeli startup specializing in workload orchestration for AI applications, for an estimated $700 million. With these moves, the company has steadily fortified its AI infrastructure and talent pool inside Israel — a trajectory now being magnified by the proposed northern mega-campus.

Nvidia’s footprint has also grown significantly in Tel Aviv. According to the information provided in The Times of Israel report, the company recently leased an additional 10 floors in the Rubinstein Twin Towers, adding to the eight floors it already occupied — a tangible reflection of the company’s rapidly expanding workforce and operational scope.

Perhaps most notably, Nvidia has already committed over $500 million toward the establishment of a cutting-edge AI research and engineering data center at the Mevo Carmel Science and Industry Park, near the original Mellanox campus in Yokne’am. This 10,000-square-meter facility will boast up to 30 megawatts of power capacity and will house some of the most advanced AI infrastructure labs in Israel, supporting both Nvidia’s R&D teams and broader industry collaboration.

This lab, described by The Times of Israel as one of the most powerful AI hubs in the region, will anchor Nvidia’s growing presence in Israel’s north, complementing the firm’s new campus plans and bolstering the country’s bid to remain a global AI innovation leader.

Nvidia’s expansion plans arrive in sharp contrast to developments at Intel, which in June 2024 abruptly paused a $15 billion expansion of its semiconductor manufacturing plant in Kiryat Gat. While Intel cited market conditions and strategic realignments, the move raised concerns about Israel’s long-term attractiveness amid ongoing regional instability and economic uncertainty.

Nvidia’s aggressive investment strategy, however, sends the opposite signal: a resounding vote of confidence in Israel’s innovation ecosystem, resilience, and future potential.

If realized at full scale, Nvidia’s planned tech campus will not only reshape the economic contours of northern Israel — it will reaffirm the country’s strategic importance in the unfolding AI revolution. As The Times of Israel report noted, the company’s decision comes at a pivotal moment when nations and corporations alike are scrambling for supremacy in artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing.

With its global prominence, deepening roots, and ever-expanding facilities, Nvidia is positioning itself — and by extension, Israel — as indispensable players in the next great technological era.