After talks with Google and Amazon to build the Israeli supercomputer failed, and the tender was reissued by the Israel Innovation Authority, Globes has learned that tech giant Oracle is planning to bid on the tender. Oracle already operates Israel’s largest data center for cloud-native operations, which it leases from Benat at the Har Hotzvim technology park in Jerusalem.
The Innovation Authority has been trying for several years to build a supercomputer in Israel that would allow academia and technology companies to perform extraordinary AI calculations and simulations that cannot be done on regular computing servers. More recently, it tried to convince Google and Amazon, the winners of the Israeli government’s Nimbus cloud tender, to build the supercomputer with a budget of NIS 290 million, including a NIS 160 million grant. Globes reported earlier this week that Google did not submit a bid due to a lack of economic feasibility, while Amazon submitted a bid but did not proceed to the final stages of the bidding for various reasons.
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A senior worker in the computing industry told Globes on condition of anonymity that “the bid was specified in detail: the number and type of processors required, which does not allow flexibility for cloud service providers in planning how to solve the need that the supercomputer is supposed to provide.” He did not specify the way in which processors will be upgraded with technological advances, as there is no point in building a supercomputer in six months or a year consisting of non-leading edge graphics processors.
“If they wanted to convince Amazon and Google to build the supercomputer, they would have had to specify the goal they wanted to achieve and not the exact way in which the supercomputer would be built. Therefore, the tender is not suitable for cloud service providers from the beginning, but for local integrators like Bynet, Med1 or Server Farm or EdgeConneX – companies that receive accurate tariffs, lower prices, and perform the work required of them.” However, if Oracle bids or even wins, it would mark its return to major Israeli government tenders after losing out in the Nimbus tender three years ago.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on December 31, 2024
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