Nvidia receives approval for new mega-campus in northern Israel

Nvidia has received approval for a new mega-campus in Israel. The Israel Land Authority (ILA) has approved the allocation of at least 90 dunams (approximately 22 acres) of land in Kiryat Tivon to Nvidia.

This decision exempts the chip giant Nvidia from the competitive bidding process, allocating the land at a discounted rate. This marks the first step toward Nvidia’s management receiving final approval to build its new Israeli campus in the northern town.

The site, located northwest of Kiryat Tivon and just a few minutes’ drive from Nvidia’s offices in Yokneam, is part of a long-planned employment zone called Campus Tivon, which currently permits 120,000 square meters of construction.

Nvidia plans to build a massive 160,000-square-meter complex to accommodate 8,000 employees. To achieve this, the company will request expanded construction rights and submit an updated development plan.

Under the agreement, Nvidia will pay a reduced lease fee of 51% of the land’s value, compared to the standard ILA rate of 91%. The exact cost of the land and the amount the company will pay will depend on the final approved plan and the planning status of the plots.

However, sources familiar with the deal estimate that the value of the benefit to Nvidia could reach tens of millions of shekels.

Nvidia has stated that it continues to evaluate all alternatives.

In recent years, Nvidia has become Israel’s fastest-growing international employer. The company has added approximately 1,000 employees each of the last two years and now employs 5,000 people across the country. With the completion of the new campus, Nvidia is expected to surpass Intel as Israel’s largest private-sector employer.

Today, Nvidia’s Israeli workforce is divided between two main centers: its headquarters in Yokneam, acquired through the purchase of Eyal Waldman’s company Mellanox, and its offices in the Rubinstein Twin Towers in Tel Aviv, where the company currently occupies eight floors. As Calcalist recently reported, Nvidia has leased an additional 10 floors in the same tower, occupying nearly half of the building’s total space.

Nvidia’s expansion in Israel extends beyond office space. The company is also building one of the country’s largest server farms in Ramot Menashe, a 10,000-square-meter facility representing a $500 million investment.