Latest / Israel Tech Daily / Intel buys Classiq for $2.3 billion, Unconventional AI acquires NeuReality, and SolarEdge cuts about 200 jobs

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Intel buys Classiq for $2.3 billion, Unconventional AI acquires NeuReality, and SolarEdge cuts about 200 jobs · Israel Tech Daily

• 0:00
  Noa: Intel is buying the Israeli quantum software company Classiq, in a deal valued at $2.3 billion. Globes calls it the biggest acquisition ever of a quantum computing company.
• 0:17
  Noa: Good morning, it's Tuesday, the twenty-seventh of October. I'm Noa.
• 0:21
  Eli: And I'm Eli.
• 0:22
  Noa: Today, Intel's quantum bet on Classiq and who gets paid, a one-year-old AI unicorn buys Israeli chipmaker NeuReality, and SolarEdge cuts again.
• 0:32
  Noa: Intel announced on Monday that it is acquiring Classiq, a Tel Aviv company that has built what amounts to an operating system for quantum computers. The deal is in cash and Intel shares, valued at $2.3 billion. Globes notes that Classiq still has about $100 million in the bank, which brings the effective price to about $2.2 billion.
• 0:54
  Eli: Classiq was founded in 2020 by chief executive Nir Minerbi, and by Amir Naveh and his father, Professor Yehuda Naveh. Its software lets developers design and run quantum algorithms without tying them to one kind of machine. That matters, Globes explains, because companies are still betting on very different technologies, from trapped ions to photons to superconductors, and no one knows which will win.
• 1:20
  Noa: Customers include BMW, which used it to simulate vehicle dynamics, HSBC for fraud detection, Citibank, Deloitte and Rolls Royce, plus more than 600 academic users. Globes says Classiq will become Intel's global development center for quantum computing.
• 1:38
  Eli: Some context. According to Globes, this is Intel's second biggest acquisition in Israel, after Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017. The previous record in quantum was IonQ's purchase of Oxford Ionics last year, for about $1 billion. Globes also notes the criticism: Intel's Israeli deals have a mixed record, and Granulate, bought for $650 million, was eventually shut down.
• 2:05
  Noa: Israel Hayom adds that only months ago Classiq was reported to be weighing a Wall Street listing through a SPAC merger. Citing the Israel Innovation Authority, it says Israeli quantum companies raised close to half a billion dollars in 2025, about 9 percent of private investment in the field worldwide.
• 2:24
  Eli: Deals like this come down to people in the end, and finding the right ones is hard. A word from our sponsor, SkillSim. Its short, timed AI scenarios let a candidate with a thin CV show what they can really do, and the full transcript gives every applicant the same, fairer first screen. Try it free at skillsim.co.
• 2:45
  Noa: Back to Classiq, and who gets paid. CTech reports that each of the three founders is expected to receive between $80 million and $100 million. Entrée Capital, which led the pre-seed round, is set to collect more than $300 million, after putting in just a few million dollars at the start.
• 3:04
  Eli: Team8 and the insurer Phoenix come next, though CTech and Globes give slightly different stakes. Classiq has about 150 employees, who CTech says hold around 10 percent of the company, worth about $230 million. Intel has added more than $100 million in retention grants to keep them.
• 3:24
  Noa: There's also a personal link. CTech reports that Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan invested in Classiq's Series B in 2022, years before he took over Intel. Sources close to Classiq told CTech that Tan recused himself from discussions about the deal.
• 3:39
  Eli: In a September podcast interview, Tan called Classiq an attempt to build the next Cadence for quantum computing, a reference to the chip design software company he used to run. Intel is developing its own silicon spin qubits, so Classiq gives it a foothold in software whichever hardware wins.
• 3:56
  Noa: Another chip deal. Unconventional AI, a US startup barely a year old, is acquiring the Israeli AI chip company NeuReality. Terms were not disclosed. Globes cites market estimates of $150 million to $200 million, in cash and shares.
• 4:14
  Eli: NeuReality was founded in 2019 by Moshe Tanach, Zvika Shmueli and Yossi Kasus, veterans of Intel, Marvell, Mellanox and Habana Labs. It raised about $105 million, and worked on the systems that run trained AI models, known as inference. CTech says the deal should return more than was invested, unlike recent Israeli chip exits such as Pliops and Hailo.
• 4:40
  Noa: The buyer is unusual. Unconventional came out of stealth last December with a $475 million seed round at a $4.5 billion valuation, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, Sequoia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Its chief executive, Naveen Rao, previously sold Nervana to Intel and MosaicML to Databricks.
• 5:03
  Eli: Unconventional says it is chasing a thousandfold improvement in AI computing efficiency. CTech stresses that is a target, not a demonstrated result. According to Globes, about 40 NeuReality employees in Caesarea and Tel Aviv will join, while some sales, marketing and finance staff will be let go. The deal is expected to close this quarter.
• 5:25
  Noa: To layoffs. Globes reports that SolarEdge is cutting about 10 percent of its workforce, roughly 200 people. Market sources told Globes that only a few dozen of the cuts will be in Israel.
• 5:37
  Eli: Globes counts this as the fourth round since January 2024, when SolarEdge announced 900 layoffs, about 550 of them in Israel. Second quarter revenue rose about 20 percent to $346 million and the loss narrowed, but guidance for the third quarter fell short of forecasts, and the stock dropped more than 20 percent after those results in August.
• 6:01
  Noa: Globes ties the cuts to weak demand from homeowners and excess inventory at distributors. The company is also pushing into energy systems for AI infrastructure. Its market value is now about $2 billion.
• 6:13
  Noa: And a defense contract. Elbit Systems says it has won contracts worth about $200 million from an Asia-Pacific country it did not name, to be carried out over up to five years.
• 6:24
  Eli: The centerpiece is Spectro 12, a compact sensor for helicopters with a laser designator and AI-powered image processing. CTech notes Elbit announced a separate $270 million contract for similar systems in September, and reported a $32 billion order backlog at the end of June.
• 6:44
  Noa: Now the quick round-up.
• 6:46
  Eli: Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to as many as 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, Britain and India, CTech reports, and says layoffs remain an option. CTech also reported this month that about 50 people on Microsoft's Copilot Studio team in Israel were called to pre-dismissal hearings.
• 7:05
  Noa: Bezeq says AI-related traffic among its private customers has tripled in three months. Chief executive Nir David told Globes that data traffic used to double every two and a half to three years.
• 7:17
  Eli: And Israel's Defense Ministry has signed a 150 million euro deal with Cyprus, Globes reports, for a new offshore patrol vessel built by Israel Shipyards and carrying naval systems from Rafael, plus upgrades to a vessel Cyprus already operates.
• 7:33
  Noa: One thing to watch. Because Intel is paying partly in its own shares, CTech notes that what Classiq's founders, investors and employees finally receive will move with Intel's stock, which Globes says is up 140 percent this year.
• 7:48
  Eli: This episode was brought to you by SkillSim. If you lead talent acquisition and you're tired of take-home answers that may have come from a chatbot, and want to watch candidates think against the clock, check them out at skillsim.co.
• 8:00
  Eli: Follow Israel Tech Daily in your podcast app, and read more at startuptofollow.com.
• 8:06
  Noa: See you tomorrow morning.