Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation has been received with worry in Israel, the company’s “second home,” as Huang described it in 2023. The company’s importance flows both ways, as the semiconductor giant has provided a major boost to Israel’s economic forecasts in recent years.
Intel, Microsoft and many homegrown startups also conduct a sizable share of their R&D in Israel. But owing to Nvidia’s stronghold on AI given the centrality of its GPUs for training LLMs and using them, many in the country are wondering how much of a reshuffle will result from its leadership crisis.
As with everything at Nvidia, Huang drove the company to acquire Israeli chipmaker Mellanox for $6.9 billion in 2019 and use the company as the base for its largest R&D facility outside of the U.S. Nvidia also made plans to build a multibillion-dollar campus in northern Israel.
“Jensen brought Nvidia to Israel with the acquisition of Mellanox, so there is a strong positive sentiment towards Nvidia and Jensen in Israel’s tech community,” Israeli repeat cybersecurity entrepreneur Pavel Gurvich told TechCrunch.
Beyond the 6,000 locals Nvidia employs, the bigger question is whether the company will remain as committed to Israel with someone else at the helm.
