Intel Israel Headcount (as an engineering site)
2020 – 13,950
2021 – 14,000
2022 – 12,000
2023 – 11,700
2024 – 11,700
2025 – 9,350
2025 (projected after a 20 % cut) – ≈ 7,500 engineers
(That 20 % haircut means roughly 1,800 more engineers will be shown the door.)
Remember when “engineering-driven” meant adding engineers rather than subtracting them? Pull up a chair: Intel has just announced plans to hack away another 20 percent of its global workforce in the name of rebuilding an “engineering culture.”
Last year the company already shaved off 15 percent of its people, so apparently lean now means skeletal.
Here in Israel—supposedly one of Intel’s “strategic R & D hubs”—head-count has slipped from about 11,000 in 2024 to just 9,350 souls today, the lowest figure in a decade. If the fresh 20 percent cut lands here as well, that’s another 1,800 engineers out the door, according to The Times of Israel.
And where do those freshly unemployed chip gurus wander off to? Surprise! NVIDIA. At least thirty senior Intel veterans jumped ship to Jensen Huang’s empire in a single quarter last year, lured by signing packages roughly one-third fatter than what Santa Clara was paying.
It shows. NVIDIA’s Israeli campus has already swelled to 3,300 engineers—about 13 percent of its worldwide workforce—and it is still hiring by the hundreds. There’s even a running joke in Yokneam that HR’s favorite interview opener is: “So—how long were you at Intel?”
Meanwhile, new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan fires off a morale memo promising “leaner teams, fewer meetings, and world-class talent.” Translation: we’ll cut thousands, keep the Zooms, and then wonder why the best architects are sporting green NVIDIA hoodies across the street.
And the flagship Israeli site—once a talent magnet that cranked out Centrino, Core, and Thunderbolt—is now nursing cancelled fab expansions and an identity crisis. But hey, at least we’ve still got corporate mugs that say “Engineering Matters.”
So here’s to the bold new vision: smaller teams, bigger slogans, and a one-way conveyor belt straight to NVIDIA’s reception desk. Cheers, Lip-Bu—may the quest for “the best talent” go as smoothly as the last quarterly earnings call. 🥂
Signed: An engineer now working at NVIDIA, still looking with sadness at the friends left behind at Intel. (Don't worry — we'll be hiring the best of them in the coming months.)