Intel is currently experiencing one of the biggest crises in its 50-year history, forcing the company to announce the layoffs of thousands of employees — some of them along the way intercepted Nvidia.
It is reported that at least 30 laid-off Israeli Intel employees will join Nvidia’s Yokneam and Tel Aviv offices as early as 2024, all with 10-20 years of experience. They include chip design software developers, hardware architecture specialists, and core processor design engineers.
At the same time, they were offered higher compensation packages: according to levels.fyi, the salary of junior hardware engineers at Nvidia starts at about $150,000 per year ($12,600 per month), which is 33% higher than the average starting salary at Intel. Nvidia will also offer an annual stock option package worth $15,000, while Intel’s hardware engineers receive a $5,200 package.
Most of the employees have joined Nvidia in recent months — with a significant surge in October. Some also go to work for Apple, Amazon, and Intel subsidiary Mobileye, with a slightly smaller percentage going to Google, Microsoft, and Huawei.
The crisis at Intel, in addition to layoffs, has forced the company to think about separation of chip production and design departments, as well as suspending the construction of some plants. There were also rumors of an acquisition by Qualcomm It should be noted that back in 2020, Intel’s market value reached $290 billion, and this year the company’s shares fell by a disastrous 60%.