Technology conglomerate Bosch is closing its research offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa. According to the newspaper Handelsblatt, these represent the company’s first closures of foreign locations and mark the first major German corporation to withdraw from the Israeli research landscape since the pandemic. Ten employees will lose their jobs; at its peak, Bosch employed around 30 people across both sites.
Bosch established the offices in 2018 as part of the Bosch Centre of Artificial Intelligence, aiming to gain access to the Israeli start-up ecosystem and cutting-edge research. The focus of the research was located at the intersection of AI, sensor technology, and automation.
On request to Handelsblatt, Head of Research Udo-Martin Gómez explained the decision was rooted in a strategic realignment. He stated that the company’s AI expertise has now concentrated globally in major centers in China and the United States, while research focusing on physical AI has shifted to Europe. Consequently, Bosch centralizes its AI competencies within the corporate research division.
Gómez further commented that the company regrets that no economically viable options emerged locally that would have justified maintaining the local research activities long-term. The closure was communicated internally in January 2026 and is scheduled to be finalized by the end of June. Notwithstanding this, Bosch maintains a presence in Israel, employing approximately 400 staff through subsidiaries such as Elmo Motion Control and the venture capital firm Bosch Ventures.
