More than 500 Israeli tech workers were laid off on Sunday, with the country’s most successful sector shedding thousands of workers in recent months.
AID Genomics, a Singaporean medical technology company, has announced a significant reduction in its activity in Israel by moving its research and development center abroad and canceling planned investments in the country.
That led to the layoff of about 400 workers – the vast majority of the company’s workforce in Israel, according to Hebrew media reports.
Earlier, the US insurance company Asurion announced that it was closing its Israeli development center, amid restructuring, which resulted in the layoff of 120 employees.
In addition, another 40 workers will be laid off at the end of the year.
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In 2013, Asurion bought Israeli startup Soluto — previously owned by Naftali Bennett, who later entered politics and ended up serving as prime minister from June 2021 until last month.
Izhak Haviv, Chief Scientist of AID Genomics, with a colleague (courtesy of AID Genomics)
An employee of Solut told public service Kan that everything is going well and that the company was hiring only a week ago.
“It was really a total shock. It was very surprising. This was simply an American decision, the site was successful. Even the senior management [of Soluto] was surprised,” he said.
With high salaries and exorbitant perks, Israel’s high-tech sector has been breaking more and more records in recent years, although some observers have warned of a market bubble, given the investment frenzy and sky-high valuations.
Khan said more than 3,000 high-tech workers have been laid off since March, half of them this month.
