IBM to Close Jerusalem Offices, Move to Greater Tel Aviv

Multinational computer and technology company IBM is set to shut down its offices in Jerusalem in a move to consolidate some of its operations in Israel, the company told Calcalist Monday. In September, the company announced it is building a new research and development center near Tel Aviv.

Most of IBM’s Jerusalem-based employees are expected to transfer to the new center.

IBM has invested nearly $57 million (ILS 200 million) in its new offices at the Shachar building in Givatayim, a city immediately to the east of Tel Aviv. The new center will take up seven floors, covering more than 115,000 square feet (10,000 square meters) of the Shahar building, the third tallest skyscraper in Israel. The centrally-located offices will include a research and development lab.

The company said it intends to employ hundreds of cyber, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, analytics, and data storage experts at the new center adding that merging some of its operations in Israel will allow different teams to cross-pollinate and work together more efficiently.

“IBM made a business decision to merge its research and development centers in Israel into one central lab. The new centrally-located center already employs hundreds of people,” the company told Calcalist.

IBM also has offices in the northern city of Haifa, in Petah Tikva, 6 miles east of Tel Aviv, a second office in Tel Aviv, and a cyber research center at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva.