Amazon and Google are competing for a NIS 300 million ($80 million) tender to construct Israel’s first AI supercomputer, with the Israel Innovation Authority set to split the costs equally with the winning tech giant.

Developed by Chief Scientist Dr. Orna Berry, the project will equip Israel with between 1,000 and 2,000 Nvidia H100 graphics processors dedicated to training language models.

Its components will consist of interconnected standard computer servers, designed specifically to handle computational tasks beyond the capabilities of conventional systems.

While smaller than typical Western national supercomputers, the system will enable Israeli industries to develop their own ChatGPT-like capabilities, such as customized customer service engines and sophisticated research tools for academic databases.

It will support both Hebrew and Arabic language model development.

Originally launched in 2022, the project’s journey hasn’t been smooth. Initially under the Ministry of Defense Directorate for Research and Development (DDR&D), construction of the supercomputer was delayed due to the outbreak of the Gaza war.

Now under the hands of Israel’s Innovation Authority, the project is back on track to be completed by 2027.

However, Globes reports that further delays can derail the project and the highly sought-after tender from the tech giants as the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Finance are pushing to establish a national directorate that would shift budget management away from the Innovation Authority and its inter-ministerial forum.

Israel’s supercomputer represents just one component of the country’s broader AI developmental strategy.

Two additional computing laboratories are being established: one partnering with Israeli chip company NextSilicon for testing environments, and another providing scientific computing services through a connection to European infrastructure, likely to be hosted in Germany.

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