A bunch of about 50 AI consultants laid off by Sony Israel has moved to the Israel workplaces of British chip large ARM, “Globes” has discovered.
Sony Israel, based mostly in Hod Hasharon, introduced in November that it was shutting down its R&D workplace in Israel after 10 years. To help its workers, Sony promised to assist finance the re-establishment of Altair, the Israeli startup it acquired in 2016, which was then growing 4G mobile communication chips. It was believed that solely among the 200 workers can be absorbed into the new-old firm, whereas others can be pressured to search for various employment.
The group that moved to ARM’s Israel improvement hub in Ra’anana between September and December 2025 contains the previous director of Sony Israel’s AI and software program division, and senior engineers growing AI algorithms in sign communications and picture processing.
Many of those former workers labored on AI fashions and apps in Sony’s edge gadgets – a expertise that offers digital gadgets the flexibility to carry out superior AI processing and never depend on distant servers. A number of of the staff are PhD researchers specializing in machine studying algorithms and pc imaginative and prescient. The Sony veterans provided enticing wage provides and the chance to work collectively as a group – lots of them have been working facet by facet for a few years.
A part of the initiative appears to have stemmed from direct communication between the managements of Sony and ARM, though finally ARM interviewed every worker individually and signed contracts with them.
Renewed momentum
As beforehand revealed by Globes, ARM is growing a graphics processor in Israel below the radar to compete with these of Nvidia and Intel. Prior to now 12 months, it has been main efforts to develop within the Israeli market and is constructing on the Israeli chip improvement business, by which tech giants like Google, Amazon, Apple and Nvidia function. ARM’s improvement middle in Israel doubled in dimension throughout 2025, partly because of the absorption of workers from Sony’s AI group and now has practically 200 workers in Ra’anana. In accordance with its job web site, it’s hiring software program engineers specializing in machine studying and graphics processors, in addition to builders of check instruments for chip improvement.
ARM’s Israeli group operates within the firm’s world graphics processing group and is presently growing a GPU for the online game market. At this stage, the processor doesn’t compete with Nvidia’s Blackwell AI graphics processor or AMD’s Mi processors. Nonetheless, business consultants consider that, as occurred with Nvidia previously, ARM might resolve to transform the processor’s function to AI.
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SoftBank, which holds a controlling stake in ARM, held an IPO in September 2023. Since then, the corporate’s inventory has doubled in worth however has barely risen since mid-2024 and fell 29% in 2025. Now, ARM is gaining renewed momentum from funding homes which can be upgrading their purchase suggestion for its inventory. This is because of expectations of ARM’s involvement in growing elements for AI chips for OpenAI with SoftBank and in collaboration with Broadcom, in addition to as a result of a partnership in growing a core processor (CPU) for Meta servers.
As a part of the SoftBank conglomerate, ARM will take part within the US Stargate knowledge facilities challenge. The challenge’s funding suppliers are anticipated to incorporate Oracle and OpenAI in addition to SoftBank.
The sphere didn’t develop as deliberate
Sony had hoped to promote its improvement actions in Israel as a single unit to a expertise large for $300 million, as reported by “Reuters” in July 2025 however when the deal fell by way of, it determined to unilaterally withdraw from its operations in Hod Hasharon and make investments a modest quantity in reviving Altair.
Sony Israel operated within the area of 4G communications (LTE) for edge gadgets (iOt), however the area didn’t develop as deliberate, and annual income was about $80 million. The Israeli division operated within the area of communications between gadgets, separate from Sony’s {hardware} improvement division, which additionally contains the event of chips for video cameras and stills. In accordance with estimates, Sony’s improvement middle in Israel had over 200 workers, who await an announcement on capital elevating to discovered Altair, and who will stay and who will likely be have to discover a new job.
No response has been forthcoming from ARM or Sony.
Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on January 27, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Writer Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
