U.S. chipmaker Nvidia on Tuesday inaugurated a new research and development center in Beersheva, tripling its office space in the Negev city.
The new site, located in the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park, spans some 3,000 square meters (32,300 square feet). The facility already accommodates more than 150 employees and features hundreds more workstations, financial outlet Globes reported.
The Beersheva site develops hardware and software technologies used in Nvidia’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, including systems that connect thousands of chips and processors, enable high-speed data transfers and support the operation of AI data centers.
The Beersheva site is Nvidia’s southernmost research and development site in Israel, complementing operations in Tel Aviv and Ra’anana, as well as in Yokneam and Tel Hai in the north.
Sources cited by Globes said the southern expansion required an investment of tens of millions of shekels. The company reportedly signed a 10-year lease with annual rent of about 2.5 million shekels ($820,000).
“The Beersheva R&D center was founded over a decade ago out of a deep belief in local talent and the connection between academia, innovation and industry,” Nvidia Senior Vice President Amit Krig, who heads the company’s Israel operations, said at the inauguration ceremony.
“The new site emphasizes our commitment to the technological ecosystem in the south, to strengthen young students, to continue nurturing the next generation of engineers and to develop groundbreaking technologies that place Nvidia’s activities in Israel at the heart of the AI revolution,” he added.
Beersheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich said the expansion demonstrated confidence in the city’s growing tech sector.
“The decision of one of the world’s leading tech companies to expand its activities in the city threefold and create hundreds of new jobs proves that the vision we have led for years is becoming a reality and establishes Beersheva as one of Israel’s major centers of innovation and AI,” he said.
Nvidia has significantly expanded its presence in the Jewish state since acquiring Israeli networking company Mellanox Technologies in 2020, with its local workforce tripling over that period.
Nvidia is one of the largest employers in the Jewish state hi-tech industry, with more than 6,000 employees in five R&D centers around the country. The chipmaker has more than 450 open positions nationwide.
