Dror Bin, the CEO of the Israeli government-supported Innovation Authority, stated that Israel will launch a tender next month to build its first supercomputer to ensure it remains among the global leaders in AI technologies. Speaking at an AI conference, Bin noted that while AI is a friend to Israel's tech sector, it could become a threat if there is no action taken to keep pace, given that AI is a rapidly evolving technology.
He highlighted that the government is allocating a budget of $250 million for a national AI program that involves the government, industry, and academia, with 60% of it set to be implemented in 2024 and completion expected in 2027, potentially with larger funding. Technology represents 20% of Israel's economic output, and the country is widely regarded as one of the largest tech hubs in the world.
Bin stated, "Our goal is to ensure that Israel maintains its leadership, ranking, and position in the global AI race." He added that building a supercomputer for training large AI models is crucial in this regard. He explained that when a company or researcher in advanced technology wants to train a large model, they need to purchase cloud time because there is no local data center with enough GPU units to train those models here. He mentioned that the supercomputer will be available to researchers and companies at a cost lower than market rates.
