Intel has intensified the competition among major tech companies in Israel to recruit new high-tech employees. Intel's latest announcement that it is hiring 1,000 more developers this year, in addition to the 400 AI chip developers that its Habana Labs unit announced that it is seeking last week, and brings to 4,000 the number of tech developers being sought in Israel.
Other major tech companies in Israel who have announced big recruitment drives include Teva's main AI chip rival Nvidia, which announced that it is hiring 600 developers in Israel, while Google, which is setting up a chip development center in Israel is hiring an estimated 500 developers.
Recruitment fever in Israeli tech also extends to the hardware sector and cybersecurity company Check Point announced earlier this week that it is hiring 800 employees, probably before the end of 2021. Software management and DevOps company JFrog has announced it is hiring 300 people, cybersecurity company Checkmarx is hiring 200 and storage processor company Pliops is also seeking 200 employees.
All these aforementioned companies total 4,000. In addition Facebook is reportedly in the midst of setting up a chip development center in Israel. Apple is also leasing a 28,000 square meter facility in Haifa to develop its own chips after recently announcing that it was parting company with Intel and would develop its own chip capability for its Mac computers.
Asked how her company would cope with the competition for talented employees and find so many developers in Israel, Intel Development Center general manager Karin Eibschitz Segal told "Globes," that Intel would not only be hiring experienced engineers with advanced degrees but also students because Intel is working to promote training within academia. In addition she says that hybrid working flexibility - partly in the office and partly from home - also expands the circle of potential employees.
She said, "There are processes with academia to continue to develop more talented people in Israel and to train more students. The hybrid model also opens up and area of possibilities for more talented people that perhaps it was previously not possible to reach. It makes it easier to hire people from outlying regions. It opens up options for more population sectors. We are the leading high-tech employer in integrating the Arab population and there are of course other populations such as the Haredim, and people with disabilities."
She added, "There is no doubt that the competition for talented employees is growing but it makes me happy to see that the entire ecosystem is developing and growing. This is good news. Overall we have a strong ecosystem and competition is something which encourages growth. I'm only too happy to see that other companies are investing here because this is recognition of Israeli human capital."
There was a chronic shortage of tech developers in Israel even before the latest recruitment drives. The significance of this intensified competition for talented high-tech staff in Israel and what they can expect in terms of offers and conditions is best symbolized by the fact that Google head-hunted former Intel VP design and engineering group Uri Frank to head its server chip design efforts in Israel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 29, 2021
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