Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the defining measures of national power. The countries that control advanced computing, AI models, semiconductors, robotics, data infrastructure and the talent required to develop them will enjoy significant economic and military advantages in the decades ahead.

Israel has concluded that it cannot afford to remain merely a successful participant in this transformation. It wants to become one of the countries shaping it.

The scale of that ambition became clearer in 2026. Israel’s National Artificial Intelligence Directorate has presented plans that include building infrastructure incorporating as many as 100,000 advanced AI processors, establishing a National AI Institute, developing an Israeli quantum computer and expanding the country’s AI workforce and research capabilities. Israel’s parliament is also moving to classify AI server farms as national infrastructure, potentially accelerating the construction of the computing capacity necessary to train and operate advanced AI systems.

For the United States, this ambition should be welcomed.

Israel is unlikely to challenge America’s position at the center of the global AI ecosystem. Instead, a technologically stronger Israel could become an important extension of that ecosystem—a trusted center for AI research, cybersecurity, semiconductors, defense technology and advanced computing at precisely the moment Washington is competing to maintain its technological advantage over China.

Israel Is Starting From an Unusually Strong Position

Israel’s ambitions are significant because it is not starting from scratch.

According to Israel’s national AI program, an analysis by the RISE Institute found approximately 2,300 operational AI companies in Israel, representing roughly one-quarter of the country’s technology industry. More than 60% of Israeli software companies use AI technology in some form. The same national program noted that Israel had previously ranked among the world’s leaders in the number of AI startups created over the preceding decade.

The country’s generative-AI sector alone included 233 companies by late 2025, according to Startup Nation Central, with those companies having raised more than $10 billion in private funding.

More broadly, Israel’s technology economy remains disproportionately large for a country of roughly ten million people.

Israeli technology companies raised approximately $14.6 billion in 2025, according to the Israel Innovation Authority, an increase of roughly 30% from the previous year. Israel ranked as the fourth-largest startup funding hub in the world, behind only San Francisco, New York and Boston—and ahead of London, Paris and Singapore.

AI is increasingly driving that investment.

In 2025, approximately 35% of all investment in Israeli technology companies went to Core AI companies developing models, infrastructure, computing technology, chips or other foundational AI capabilities. If Core AI were treated as a standalone industry category, it would have been the largest technology investment segment in Israel that year.

This matters because Israel’s AI ecosystem is developing alongside an already formidable deep-tech sector. Roughly 1,500 deep-tech companies operate in Israel. Since 2019, they have raised approximately $28.6 billion, with........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)