IBM Israel

IBM Israel Ltd, identified in a corporate reference listing as a 99.99%-owned subsidiary of IBM Corporation, has an official address at 94 Shlomo Shmeltzer Street in Petah Tikva.[8][9] IBM Research – Israel operates sites in Haifa, Givatayim, and Be'er Sheva and describes itself as one of IBM's largest laboratories outside the United States.[5] IBM Israel is part of a broader pattern of American technology companies establishing major research-and-development centers in Israel. A Washington Institute analysis reported that companies in this group conducted research in Israel at approximately one-half to two-thirds of the cost of equivalent work in the United States, attributing the difference to labor, rent, regulatory costs, public investment, and tax incentives.[10]

Mid-2000s U.S. Department of State country background entries named IBM among the leading companies with a significant presence in Israel's technology market; the 2006 entry added that major international firms had maintained their commitment during a macroeconomic downturn.[11][12] More than 70 companies had established offices at Beersheba's Advanced Technology Park as of 2023, with IBM among the global multinationals represented alongside Lockheed Martin, Deutsche Telekom, and Fujitsu.[13] IBM followed Motorola's early multinational R&D presence by expanding sales and technical-support facilities into a major Haifa research operation by the late 1970s.[14]

The Jerusalem Post reported that IBM began working in Israel in 1949 after being invited to assist the fledgling state with defense needs. IBM Israel CEO Meir Nissensohn said the operation grew from three initial employees to approximately 2,200 by 2008.[1] An Encyclopedia.com account instead places IBM's move into Israel in the early 1950s without specifying an exact year.[15]

A decisive step in IBM's Israeli research presence came in 1972, when Yosef (Yossi) Raviv, who had worked in IBM's U.S. research department, returned to Israel and founded IBM's first Israeli laboratory, the Scientific Center in Haifa.[3] Raviv led IBM's Haifa research and development activity for 28 years.[3] In its earliest years, the center worked on data-processing challenges with direct local relevance, including optimization of Israel's water-reservoir operations. Early projects also encompassed ultrasound systems for diagnosing liver cancer, urban-planning tools, hearing aids, and identification and document-processing systems.[3]

By 1981, the center employed 22 people and shifted its focus to supporting IBM's global R&D groups rather than primarily local applications.[3] That reorientation continued over the following decade and a half. In 1997, the Haifa laboratories were formally integrated into IBM's worldwide R&D department as an integral part of it rather than operating as a semi-independent scientific center.[3]

Some accounts of IBM's early Israeli activity are inconsistent. A 2004 Globes history says the Scientific Center was founded in 1972 and that the Israeli software company Ubique was acquired by Lotus in 1995, with IBM later acquiring Lotus. A 2008 Globes article states that IBM had been active in Israel since acquiring Ubique in 1998 and locates the first computer research lab at the Technion in the 1970s.[3][7]

By 2004, IBM's Israeli development centers employed 550 people, including 100 students, distributed across three sites: approximately 400 R&D personnel at the University of Haifa campus, 70 employees at a center on the Tel Aviv University campus, and 45 employees in Rehovot.[3] Storage, verification, and enterprise file search were identified as the principal technical areas. The breakdown of activity was roughly 40% research and 60% development, with 30% of research employees holding doctoral degrees and 40% holding master's degrees.[3]

Storage research was particularly prominent in the Haifa center's early portfolio. Work included backing up data between geographically separated sites, and Israeli-developed technologies included Global Mirror software and components incorporated into IBM's DS6000 and S8000 storage-control product lines.[3] In April 2008, IBM announced a Systems and Technology Group laboratory in Israel, led by Alain Azagury, to coordinate local storage development and lead circuit- and logic-design technologies. It was positioned to work alongside the Haifa Research Lab, then directed by Oded Cohn, and a Software Lab led by Daniel Yellin; together, the three laboratories employed more than 700 researchers and developers.[7]

Water-resource research became another significant area for IBM Haifa. A 2010 account described the center as part of IBM's global water initiative, developing solutions for water challenges in different countries. Research spanned monitoring water sources and treated wastewater, water-system planning and transport, water quality, and remote leak detection. Researchers examined consumption patterns and dynamically adjusting pipeline pressure as a means of reducing water loss, using sensors, data analysis, algorithms, and simulation.[4]

At a September 2022 event marking 50 years of IBM Research's presence in Israel, the company announced a three-year partnership with the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The partnership committed millions of dollars to Ph.D. students researching scalable AI, with priorities including natural-language processing, accelerated drug discovery, and multi-cloud infrastructure. The Haifa laboratory was then described as IBM's largest research lab outside the United States, employing hundreds of researchers across AI, hybrid cloud, quantum computing, blockchain, healthcare, and the Internet of Things.[6]

In the summer of 2024, IBM Research – Israel opened a renovated headquarters on the University of Haifa campus, creating a workspace designed to support collaboration among researchers working in AI, quantum computing, cloud, data security, and accelerated drug discovery.[16] IBM Research – Israel describes its scientific approach as open innovation with partners from industry and academia, with researchers publishing in scientific journals and at international conferences.[5] Its collaboration programs include industrial projects, internships, grants, fellowships, and participation in EU-funded research consortiums.[17] At the 2022 anniversary event, Aya Soffer was identified as vice president of AI and director of IBM's research laboratory in Israel.[6]

Cybersecurity became one of IBM Research – Israel's major areas. In 2014, IBM described a five-node cybersecurity research network in Israel: a Cyber Security Center of Excellence in Be'er Sheva; product research teams in Herzliya, Jerusalem/Sde Boker, and Tel Aviv; and the IBM Research Division laboratory in Haifa. A joint research team with Ben-Gurion University was chartered to pursue advanced cybersecurity R&D, including collaborative studies intended to protect critical infrastructure and assets.[18]

The Beersheba Advanced Technology Park, established in 2013 as a joint venture of the Israeli government, the Beersheba municipality, the Israel Defense Forces, and Ben-Gurion University, was intended to bring startups, multinational companies, government agencies, academia, and the IDF into a shared space to encourage cooperation and innovation.[13] IBM was among the more than 70 companies that had established offices at the park by 2023.[13]

In 2018, IBM expanded its Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Beersheba by launching a laboratory at Gav-Yam Park in cooperation with IBM Research. The center had operated for approximately four years on the Ben-Gurion University campus as part of IBM's Haifa research activities, beginning as a small pilot before growing to dozens of researchers. The expanded space could accommodate three times as many employees as the former approximately 200-square-meter laboratory.[19] Research included insider-threat detection, biometric algorithms, connected-vehicle security, and endpoint protection. A central project applied AI analytics to user activity, including applications opened and files accessed, to help security managers assess organizational risk.[19]

IBM has expanded its Israeli presence through acquisitions of Israeli-founded technology companies, bringing specialized teams and technologies into its international operations.

In January 2008, IBM announced the acquisition of XIV, a Tel Aviv-based data-storage company founded in 2002 by five graduates of the Talpiot program. XIV had spent three years developing Nextra, a storage system built on a grid of standard hardware components capable of scaling dynamically, recovering from failure, self-tuning, and reducing system-management burdens. Its 50 employees were to remain in Tel Aviv and join IBM's system-storage business. The parties did not disclose the acquisition price; Israeli financial reporting estimated the value at $300–350 million.[20] XIV executive chairman Moshe Yanai said he hoped the acquisition would enable IBM to expand its Israeli staff and build an R&D center larger than Intel's Israeli operation, although he provided no details about the proposed expansion.[20] A 2023 report confirmed that a substantial Israeli storage-technology development center employing hundreds of workers had been established following the XIV acquisition.[2]

Also in 2008, IBM acquired the Israeli storage startups FilesX and Diligent Technologies alongside XIV, further expanding its Israeli storage-technology portfolio.[7]

In 2009, IBM acquired Guardium, an Israeli-founded data-security company whose product line later became the Guardium family of data-security products developed and maintained in Israel.[21]

In 2013, IBM agreed to acquire Trusteer, an Israeli information-security and fraud-solutions developer whose software protected against phishing and other malware attacks. Trusteer had R&D operations in Israel and an office in Boston.[22] IBM planned for the acquired company to form the nucleus of a cybersecurity research operation bringing together more than 200 Trusteer and IBM researchers and developers working on mobile and application security, advanced-threat protection, malware, counter-fraud, and financial crimes.[23] The acquisition closed in September 2013. IBM and Trusteer did not disclose the transaction price; two Globes reports cited estimates of $630 million and $650 million.[23][24] Mako reported a pre-completion estimate of $800–900 million.[25]

On July 6, 2022, IBM announced that it had acquired Databand.ai, a data-observability software provider headquartered in Tel Aviv, with the acquisition having closed on June 27. Databand.ai employees joined IBM Data and AI, and IBM said the acquisition expanded its data and AI product portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.[26]

In 2023, IBM acquired Tel Aviv-based Polar Security, whose platform tracked sensitive data across hybrid-cloud systems and identified vulnerabilities and compliance risks. IBM integrated Polar's technology into the Guardium product family. Polar's approximately 20 employees joined Israel-founded Guardium, and employees of Databand.ai joined IBM's Data and AI division in Israel.[21]

Among the most prominent projects to emerge from IBM Research – Israel is Project Debater, an AI system designed to construct and deliver spoken arguments on complex topics. After Watson's success in the 2011 Jeopardy! challenge, IBM pursued a system capable of debating humans; a global IBM Research team led by the Haifa laboratory developed Project Debater over more than six years.[27][28] Noam Slonim served as principal researcher and Ranit Aharonov as project manager.[27]

The system was built around three core capabilities: generating data-driven opinions expressed in complete spoken sentences, listening comprehension sufficient to identify key claims within extended speech, and modeling human dilemmas to construct principled arguments. Its arguments drew on a corpus described as approximately 300 million scientific and press articles and 10 billion sentences.[29][27]

In 2018, IBM showcased Project Debater at its Givatayim offices, where the system debated professional Israeli debaters on mass surveillance and genetic engineering. The system tied its opponent in the first debate. In the second, the human debater changed more audience members' minds despite the system receiving a higher knowledge score.[27] In June 2018, Project Debater also participated in public debates in San Francisco, including a debate with Israeli national debate champion Noa Ovadia on whether space exploration should be subsidized.[28] Aharonov described a potential application as helping people make balanced, data-based decisions and said the system was not then market-ready.[27]

IBM Israel's physical footprint has evolved over the decades, reflecting growth in its workforce and changes in organizational structure. In 2017, IBM announced that it was consolidating some Israeli operations into a new center at the Shachar building in Givatayim and planned to close its Jerusalem offices, with most Jerusalem-based employees expected to transfer. The Givatayim center covered seven floors and approximately 10,000 square meters, representing an investment of nearly $57 million. IBM said the central laboratory would bring together R&D teams working in cyber, AI, cloud computing, analytics, and data storage, while the company maintained additional offices in Haifa, Petah Tikva, and Tel Aviv and a cyber research center at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva.[30]

By 2019, IBM employed approximately 2,000 people in Israel across five centers: Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv, Givatayim, Beersheba, and Haifa.[31] That year, IBM began a process to dismiss dozens of workers at its Tel Aviv R&D center as part of a global reorganization, stating that it was repositioning toward high-value IT segments while continuing to hire in critical areas.[31] By 2023, the Israeli workforce had grown to approximately 3,000 people across the five-center network. A 2023 report said IBM was laying off dozens of storage software developers while clarifying that the affected employees were not involved in the company's research activities.[2]

IBM Research – Israel's collaboration model draws in scientists from across Israeli academia. The laboratory offers industrial projects, internships, grants, fellowships, and talks, with collaboration areas spanning security, quantum computing, AI for drug discovery, causal inference, natural-language processing, decision optimization, computer vision, business-process automation, and hybrid-cloud computing.[17] It also participates in EU-funded research consortiums and joint projects with international academic and industrial partners.[17] IBM's 2014 description of its Israeli cybersecurity network encompassed five centers, including a joint research team with Ben-Gurion University chartered to pursue advanced R&D for the protection of critical infrastructure.[18]

IBM Israel in Haifa was also reported to be working with San Diego-based Tensorcom Wireless on an ultra-low-power 60 GHz wireless capability for short-distance applications through BIRD grants, although the source did not provide a completion date.[32]

IBM's sustained presence in Israel places it among the foundational multinational participants in the country's technology sector. IBM followed Motorola's establishment of a major U.S. R&D presence in Israel in the 1970s, expanding its own sales and technical-support facilities into a major research operation in Haifa by the late 1970s.[14] IBM is one of more than 10,000 American companies described as doing business in or with Israel, a group that includes Fortune 500 firms such as Intel, Microsoft, McDonald's, and Baxter Healthcare.[33] Access to talent, profit opportunities, and Israel's role as a gateway to the European market were identified as reasons for American businesses to operate there.[33]

The Washington Institute characterized Israel–U.S. information-technology cooperation as important to the success of U.S. companies, arguing that U.S. firms gain access to scientific talent and a cost-effective research environment while Israel gains investment, employment, and integration into international technology networks.[34] Research reported at one-half to two-thirds of comparable U.S. costs, attributed to lower labor and rental costs, tax incentives, and public investment, made Israel attractive for R&D-intensive operations.[10]

IBM Israel's reported patent output reflects its research intensity. In 2014, IBM Israel country general manager Rick Kaplan said local developers delivered "many hundreds of patents a year" and that IBM Israel provided the second-largest number of patents to IBM annually, after its U.S. teams.[35] IBM Research – Israel's portfolio encompasses AI, natural-language understanding, computer vision, quantum computing, security, automation, and accelerated discovery for healthcare and life sciences.[5]

Several details about IBM Israel's history rest on sources that give different accounts or report estimates rather than confirmed figures. Globes reported an estimated Trusteer acquisition price of $630 million after the deal closed in September 2013, while another Globes report cited $650 million.[23][24] Mako reported a pre-completion estimate of $800–900 million; IBM and Trusteer did not disclose the transaction terms.[25] The XIV acquisition price was also not officially disclosed, with Israeli financial reporting estimating $300–350 million.[20]

Early accounts of IBM's Israeli history are inconsistent. A 2004 Globes history describes the first Israeli Scientific Center as founded in 1972 and records Ubique as having been acquired by Lotus in 1995, with IBM later acquiring Lotus. A 2008 Globes article states that IBM had been active in Israel since acquiring Ubique in 1998 and places the first computer research laboratory at the Technion in the 1970s.[3][7]

Employee and research-center headcounts vary by source and date. The Jerusalem Post reported approximately 2,200 total employees and almost 1,000 employees across three research laboratories in late 2008.[1] A January 2008 Jerusalem Post article referenced more than 700 people in connection with IBM's Israeli laboratories.[20] The Times of Israel reported approximately 2,000 employees across five centers in 2019, while CTech reported approximately 3,000 employees across five centers in 2023.[31][2] These figures concern different dates and, in some cases, different organizational scopes.