Nvidia: “We'll do our best to make sure that Israel stays on top of the AI race globally”
Nvidia: “We'll do our best to make sure that Israel stays on top of the AI race globally”
The Senior Country Director of Nvidia Israel, Nati Amsterdam, made the remarks following proposed restrictions on AI chip exports by former President Biden that would directly impact Israel.
“I think Israel as a country should build stronger supercomputing capabilities to support different industries and make sure that it's a critical infrastructure for Israel,” said Nati Amsterdam, Senior Country Director of Nvidia Israel. “It's like water and electricity: AI is the same. Building supercomputing capabilities is critical.”
Amsterdam was making the remarks following the news that President Biden’s restrictions on AI computing power may leave Israel lagging behind in global innovation, as previously reported by CTech earlier this month. While the White House since has a new resident, it drove home the priority for countries like Israel to not depend too heavily on other global powers.
“It actually means we even need to move faster,” he added. “We'll move faster and make sure that we are pushing the boundaries of the talent in Israel. The top researchers that we have here make sure that we do that for each industry. We are here to support the ecosystem. We'll do our best to make sure that Israel stays on top of the AI race globally.”
Amsterdam was speaking at a fireside chat with Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, Former Chairman of the Israel Space Agency, at the 20th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference hosted in Tel Aviv, celebrating the Israeli spacetech industry and its position in the global industry. Key topics included remote sensing, dual-use, and satellite communication.
The fireside chat also took place as Nvidia’s stock dropped sharply in pre-market trading following the news of the R1 GenAI model registered by Chinese AI company DeepSeek. It was founded in 2023 but recently announced AI models that offer similar performance to some of the world’s best chatbots at what appears to be a fraction of the cost.
Earlier this month, CTech reported that Nvidia is planning to build a 10,000-square-meter facility to enhance its local R&D operations, making it one of Israel’s largest data centers. It also purchased two Israeli companies in 2024 - Run:ai and Deci - totaling an estimated $1.1 billion.
