The specificity of Intel’s workforce reduction in Israel, as reported by Globes, lies in its concentration on specialists from the company’s research centers. Nvidia has had similar structural divisions in Israel since the purchase of Mellanox, and therefore willingly gives jobs to those who have lost their jobs in local Intel divisions.
Image source: NVIDIA
In August, we recall that Intel announced its intentions to cut 15% of its workforce, which in absolute terms should correspond to 15 or 17 thousand people worldwide. Of these, 7,500 have already agreed to retire early, receiving a severance pay of 19 times their average monthly income. Intel’s staffing structure in Israel until recently meant providing jobs for 11,000 people, of which approximately 4,000 were involved in chip production in Kiryat Gat, and the rest worked in the company’s research and development centers. Several hundred redundant Intel employees in Israel will retire early, but the number of older professionals who will lose their jobs will also be several hundred people.
Intel almost does not affect its production personnel in Israel with its cuts, since the construction of new facilities at the Fab 38 site implies the creation of new jobs. Even before Intel’s announcement of massive layoffs, many Israelis were moving from the company’s staff to Nvidia. At the very least, an analysis of the LinkedIn profiles of current employees of the latter in Israel revealed that during 2024 at least 30 of them previously worked at Intel. Among them are many specialists in the development of chips and their various subsystems, with more than ten years of experience. In the coming weeks, the number of employees moving from Intel to Nvidia in Israel could exceed 100 people. At the end of June, the latter had a staff of 4,000 employees in this country.
By the way, not only Nvidia gets access to valuable personnel with experience at Intel. There are divisions of Microsoft, Google and Huawei operating in Israel, which happily accept former Intel employees. In addition, the subsidiary Mobileye, which is formally considered independent from Intel, also replenishes its staff with people from the parent corporation. Statistics show that employees at Nvidia can expect higher salaries than at Intel.