Israel is planning to develop a supercomputer designed for artificial intelligence (AI).

As reported by Reuters, Israel is planning to put out a tender seeking a company to build the machine. It is hoped this will help the country keep pace with other nations when it comes to AI development.

During an AI conference, Dror Bin, the chief executive of the state-backed Israel Innovation Authority noted that the government was budgeting $250 million for a national AI program. According to Bin, 60 percent of this will be executed in 2024 and completed in 2027. Following this, there is the potential for additional funding.

"Our goal is to make sure and to secure that Israel sustains its leadership, ranking, and position in the AI race in the world," Bin said.

He added that companies and researchers currently seeking to train large models have to procure resources in the cloud. "There is no local data center with a significant amount of GPUs that can train those models here," he said.

The plans for the supercomputer were revealed on June 26, though no specific date for a tender was shared beyond "next month." It will be made available to researchers and companies at a lower cost than the market price.

The technology sector in Israel accounts for around 20 percent of the country's overall output. Bin said that of the 9,000 startups in Israel, more than 2,200 use AI. Israel also has 73 generative AI companies, the third largest concentration globally.

This year so far has seen Oracle and MedOne commit to building new data centers in Israel. Both companies are opting to build the facilities underground to ensure they are safe from "security threats."

In February 2023, Israeli company Techtonic said it was building a subterranean server hall in Bet Shemesh, east of Jerusalem. The 16MW site is set to come online in the second quarter of 2025, and will be capable of surviving a direct missile attack, according to the company.