Nvidia in Israel: The Mellanox Engine Behind the AI Stack
Roughly 16% of Nvidia's global revenue runs through Israel. The story starts with the $6.9 billion Mellanox deal in 2019 and runs through the first campus Nvidia will own outside the US — in Kiryat Tivon.
Nvidia in Israel: The Mellanox Engine Behind the AI Stack
Roughly 16% of Nvidia's global revenue runs through Israel. That single figure — reported by the company's Israeli unit at triple-digit year-on-year growth — explains why the world's most valuable company is building its first owned, "spaceship-style" campus outside the United States not in Taiwan or India, but in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Tivon. Nvidia did not stumble into Israel. It bought its way to the center of the AI networking layer in 2019, and everything since has compounded on that decision.
The anchor was Mellanox Technologies. Nvidia acquired the Yokneam-based maker of high-speed interconnect and networking hardware for $6.9 billion in 2019 — at the time its largest acquisition ever. The strategic logic was not obvious to outsiders then. It is now: as AI training moved to massive GPU clusters, the bottleneck shifted from raw compute to how fast thousands of chips can talk to each other. Mellanox's InfiniBand and Ethernet technology is the plumbing that makes large-scale AI training possible. Nvidia bought the networking layer of the AI stack, and it bought it in Israel.
From one deal to a national footprint
Mellanox's Yokneam headquarters became Nvidia's primary Israeli hub and the foundation of everything that followed. The company now employs roughly 5,000 people in Israel — about 3,000 of them in Yokneam — making it one of the country's largest technology employers, with CEO Jensen Huang stating the company intends to roughly double that headcount. Key chips, including the BlueField data-processing line and multiple advanced networking components, were developed in Israel. Huang has called Israel Nvidia's "second home."
The acquisitions did not stop at Mellanox. Nvidia bought AI-workload-management startup Run:ai for an estimated $700 million in 2024 and model-optimization firm Deci, and it has expanded R&D in Tel Aviv and tripled its presence in Beersheba. The pattern is consistent: every subsequent move follows the logic Mellanox established — Israel is where Nvidia finds the networking and AI-systems engineering talent that powers its most valuable product lines.
The Kiryat Tivon campus
In December 2025, Nvidia confirmed plans for a 160,000-square-meter campus in Kiryat Tivon designed to house up to 10,000 employees, with occupancy targeted around 2031. The detail that matters: Nvidia will own the land, not lease it. Every other major foreign tech campus in Israel — Intel, Microsoft, Google, Meta — sits on leased property. The Israel Land Authority allocated roughly 90 dunams of state land to Nvidia with an exemption from competitive tender, after more than 100 municipalities submitted bids in response to the company's public land search. It is the first international tech company to build and own a major development campus in the country — a level of institutional commitment that signals Israel is not a satellite office but a permanent core of Nvidia's global engineering base.
Why it matters for the AI economy
Nvidia-Israel is the clearest single proof of Israel's position as the back-end of the global AI stack. The most valuable company on earth, building the chips and networks the entire AI industry depends on, routes roughly a sixth of its revenue and its first owned overseas campus through a footprint that started with one 2019 acquisition. The story is not that Nvidia has an office in Israel. It is that the networking layer of modern AI computing was built in Yokneam — and Nvidia paid $6.9 billion to make sure it owned it.
Nvidia's Israeli engine was not acquired for adjacency. It became part of the core machine.
Frequently asked questions
How many people does Nvidia employ in Israel?
Nvidia employs roughly 5,000 people in Israel, about 3,000 of them at its Yokneam headquarters, making it one of the country's largest technology employers. CEO Jensen Huang has stated the company intends to roughly double its Israeli workforce.
Why did Nvidia acquire Mellanox?
Nvidia acquired Mellanox in 2019 for $6.9 billion to own the high-speed interconnect and networking technology that allows thousands of GPUs to communicate during large-scale AI training. As AI moved to massive clusters, networking became as critical as compute — and Mellanox's InfiniBand and Ethernet technology is foundational to it.
What is the Nvidia Kiryat Tivon campus?
A planned 160,000-square-meter R&D campus in northern Israel designed to house up to 10,000 employees, with occupancy targeted around 2031. It is Nvidia's first owned (rather than leased) major campus outside the United States, built on roughly 90 dunams of state land allocated by the Israel Land Authority.
How much of Nvidia's revenue comes through Israel?
Nvidia's Israeli unit accounted for roughly 16% of the company's total global revenue in its most recent reported year, posting triple-digit year-on-year growth.
What other Israeli companies has Nvidia acquired?
Beyond Mellanox (2019, $6.9 billion), Nvidia acquired AI-workload-management startup Run:ai for an estimated $700 million in 2024 and model-optimization firm Deci. It has also expanded R&D operations in Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
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