Google to set up new AI chip team in Israel, tapping local talent
Times of Israel · LC · trust 22/100
US tech giant Google is beefing up its Israel development operations with a new team dedicated to building artificial intelligence chips designed for robots and autonomous systems.
Google recently hired Guy Kaminitz, former vice president of R&D at Israel-based AI chipmaker Hailo, to lead the new team in Israel as silicon engineering head. That’s after US semiconductor firm Microchip Technology bought struggling Hailo at the end of July, which was undergoing workforce reductions.
“I have joined Google to lead a new silicon engineering initiative within the Edge AI domain,” Kaminitz wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. “We are building a world-class engineering group here in Israel from the ground up.”
Google is actively hiring dozens of engineers for a range of roles to build a team for developing AI chips for so-called network edge devices, such as robots and other autonomous systems. Among the open positions are engineers for silicon validation, automation and physical design, verification and machine learning hardware architecture.
Google was not available for comment when contacted by The Times of Israel.
The hiring move comes as local tech firms from Wix to Rapyd and global tech heavyweights including Meta have in recent months announced a wave of layoffs to tighten operations, cut costs, and reorganize their staff amid pressure to adapt to the new automation era.
Edge AI processors enable applications to run directly on devices rather than in the cloud. Deployed at the network edge, they power robots, drones, industrial automation systems, autonomous vehicles, smart home appliances, smart cameras and TVs, as well as IoT, AR/VR, wearable and security devices.
In 2021, Google expanded its Israeli activities to chip design and development. Former Intel executive Uri Frank is leading Google’s server chip operations, which are focused on building custom chips as a way to boost the performance of computing systems.
Earlier this year, Google completed the acquisition of cybersecurity unicorn Wiz for $32 billion, the largest-ever purchase of an Israeli-founded tech company. Google has had R&D activity in Israel since 2005, in Haifa and Tel Aviv, with teams tackling machine learning, AI, natural language processing and machine perception challenges.
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