Israel plans a base of around 300,000 GPUs, roughly two gigawatts of power and a domestic foundation model, CTech reported on 9 November, citing the head of the National AI Directorate at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Erez Askal presented the targets at AI & Cyber Week at Tel Aviv University. “If it’s not your AI, you have no control over your country”, Askal said. CTech gave no funding amount and no deadline for the targets.
Business Pill · Sovereign AI
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on sovereign AI. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Israel’s plan.
The key insight: Israel’s National AI Directorate set targets of around 300,000 GPUs, approximately two gigawatts of power and a domestic foundation model, CTech reported on 9 November. One third of the GPUs would serve domestic users, by our arithmetic; no funding or deadline was given.
According to CTech, 100,000 of the GPUs would serve domestic needs across academia, government, defense and startups. Another 200,000 would support technology companies and data centers. That makes the domestic share one third, by our arithmetic.
Askal said Israel needs approximately two gigawatts of electricity capacity to support AI infrastructure, data centers and semiconductor manufacturing, CTech reported.
The plan also calls for an advanced Israeli foundation model. “That is why we need to build our own frontier model, but we do not have to build it alone”, Askal said, according to CTech.
Israel’s stated targets as reported by CTech on 9 November 2026: 300,000 GPUs split 100,000 domestic and 200,000 for technology companies and data centers, and about 2 GW of power. The Norway and Munich comparisons are from our earlier pieces; the ratios are our arithmetic.
Why the Directorate Says It Wants Its Own Stack
Askal said that within five to seven years, essential systems such as energy, water and healthcare are expected to rely increasingly on AI, CTech reported.
“Today, countries depend on commercial companies that have their own business interests and values, which are not necessarily aligned with those of the countries they serve”, Askal said. “That is why we have decided to build our own sovereign AI stack”.
CTech wrote that the strategy does not call for Israel to develop everything independently, but to keep control over critical parts while working with international partners.
As we read the split, the plan reserves 100,000 GPUs for academia, government, defense and startups, and two thirds for technology companies and data centers, by our arithmetic.
As we read the scale, two gigawatts is 2.5 times the 800 MW of data centres Norway’s grid operator says are connected, by our arithmetic.
Erez Askal, head of the National AI Directorate, as reported by CTech, 9 November 2026
“That is why we have decided to build our own sovereign AI stack”
Three Implications
FOR COMPUTE CTech reported a target of around 300,000 GPUs: 100,000 for domestic needs and 200,000 for technology companies and data centers.
FOR POWER Askal said Israel needs approximately two gigawatts for AI infrastructure, data centers and semiconductor manufacturing, CTech reported.
FOR MODELS The plan includes an advanced Israeli foundation model, built with partners, Askal said, according to CTech.
The framework says: “It is a sovereign-scale financing problem dressed in tech-company clothing — and the financial architecture is starting to invert.”
As we read it, Israel’s targets put a state directly in the picture: CTech reported the GPU and power goals but no budget, so how they would be financed is not established.
What Is Not Established
CTech’s report gives no budget, financing source, timeline or chip supplier for the 300,000 GPUs, and does not say where the two gigawatts would come from. These are stated targets, not funded projects, in the report we read.
This Week In The AI Supercycle
The Great Convergence of Capital, Power, and Geopolitics
This week’s issue: for two years the AI build-out was priced as a supply story, and last week as a credit story. This week it was priced as a permission story, and the answer arrived as a cost, not a ban.
Israel’s national AI chief set out targets of around 300,000 GPUs, about two gigawatts of power and a domestic frontier model on 9 November, CTech reported. One third of the GPUs would serve domestic users, by our arithmetic. No funding or deadline was given.
A note on sourcing. The targets and quotations are from CTech’s 9 November 2026 report of Erez Askal’s remarks at AI & Cyber Week, read in full. The Norway and Munich figures are from our earlier pieces on Statnett and Deutsche Telekom. The share and ratios are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
