Nvidia’s Israeli expansion accelerates with hundreds of new hires in new southern hub
The company will move to a new 3,000-square-meter site in Be’er Sheva in 2026, creating hundreds of jobs in Israel’s southern tech hub. The chipmaker now employs over 5,000 in Israel and is also scouting land for a northern campus spanning up to 120 dunams.
While attention has focused on Nvidia’s plans for a massive new campus in northern Israel, Calcalist has learned that the chip giant is simultaneously deepening its roots in the south. The company is set to triple its footprint in Be’er Sheva, relocating its R&D center to a new 3,000-square-meter site and recruiting hundreds of engineers and developers over the next year.
Nvidia plans to move into the fifth building under construction by Gev-Yam in Be’er Sheva’s high-tech park, already home to Microsoft, Elbit Systems, and several IDF technology units, by the first half of 2026. The park sits adjacent to Ben-Gurion University and Soroka Medical Center, forming the backbone of Israel’s growing southern innovation ecosystem.
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Illustration of Nvidia's new center in Be'er Sheva.
(Illustration: Moshe Tzur Architects)
According to people familiar with the decision, the expansion was approved even before the recent agreement to end the war in Gaza and would have proceeded regardless of the conflict’s outcome. Nvidia’s presence in Be’er Sheva dates back to its $7 billion acquisition of Mellanox in 2020, through which it inherited a modest site of about 1,000 square meters and a team of several dozen Ben-Gurion University students. Most later transferred to Nvidia’s offices in central or northern Israel.
Nvidia plans to hire hundreds of permanent employees in the southern region, including chip developers and hardware and software engineers. The Be’er Sheva site will be the company’s southernmost R&D center in Israel, joining its major hubs in Yokneam, home to most of its local workforce, as well as Tel Aviv, Ra’anana, Mevo Carmel, and Tel Hai.
Nvidia now employs over 5,000 people in Israel, making it one of the country’s largest private tech employers. Since acquiring Mellanox, its Israeli workforce has more than doubled. The company is also evaluating proposals for a new mega-campus in northern Israel, expected to require an investment of billions of shekels. In July, Nvidia issued a request for proposals to locate a 70–120 dunam (17–30 acre) site near its Yokneam headquarters, in what would be the largest corporate campus in Israel’s tech sector, surpassing those of Intel, Microsoft, Wix, and Mobileye. Nvidia has received dozens of offers from municipalities nationwide and is reviewing them ahead of a final decision.
In addition to the Be’er Sheva expansion, Nvidia has significantly enlarged its Tel Aviv offices over the past year. The company now leases 18 floors, half of the Rubinstein Twin Towers, after adding ten new floors to its existing eight. It is also building one of Israel’s largest data centers, a $500 million, 10,000-square-meter server farm in Ramot Menashe in the north.
Now valued at $4.5 trillion, Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company, trading on Nasdaq. Its shares have risen 34% this year and more than 1,200% over the past five years, propelled by the global AI boom that turned its chips into the most sought-after components in modern computing.
In Israel, Nvidia’s activity, initially centered around Mellanox, has continued to expand. In 2024, during the Gaza war, the company acquired Deci and Run:ai, two Israeli AI startups, for a combined $1 billion, cementing its status as the country’s most influential foreign tech employer. Today, Israel is Nvidia’s second-largest R&D hub outside the United States, with key products developed locally.
The depth of that connection was clear in an email Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang sent to employees following the release of Avinatan Or, an Nvidia engineer held by Hamas for two years. “I am profoundly moved and deeply grateful to share that, just moments ago, our colleague, Avinatan Or, was released to the Red Cross in Gaza,” Huang wrote to employees. “After two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity, Avinatan has come home.”
Confirming the expansion plans, Amit Krig, Senior Vice President networking and Nvidia-Israel site leader, said: “The expansion of the development center in Be’er Sheva reflects our commitment to reaching the best engineers - wherever they are.”
