Avigdor Willenz (; born in 1957,

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

, Israel) is an Israeli

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

in the

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

field,

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ist,

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, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Early life and education

Avigdor Willenz was born in 1957 in Rehovot. He studied at Hebrew University High School and then dropped out. After a pre-military service year in Kibbutz Raim, he served in the IDF as an officer in the Armored Corps during the

First Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

, as a tank platoon deputy commander in the 362nd Battalion, among other roles in the Sultan Yacoub battle. Willenz is a graduate of the Technion in Electrical Engineering.

Career

He began his professional career in the early 1980s at Elbit, where he worked on developing computer infrastructures for the

Lavi Lavi (, ''lit.'' Lion) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located 310 meters above sea level and 10 minutes from Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Founding Kibbut ...

and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

combat aircraft. In 1988, he moved to the United States for residence, during which he specialized in developing half-conductor devices, resigned from Elbit, and joined

Integrated Device Technology Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), was an American semiconductor company headquartered in San Jose, California. The company designed, manufactured, and marketed low-power, high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor products for the adva ...

(IDT). At IDT, Willenz met Manuel Alba, who became his partner in companies he later founded. After three and a half years in the United States, he returned to Israel. In 1993, he founded Galileo Technologies, which develops VLSI components. In 1997, Willenz took Galileo public on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

, and in October 2000, he led its sale to the American company

Marvell Technology Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,500 employees as of 2024, with over 10,000 ...

, which paid $2.7 billion for 25% of Galileo's shares. He invested in several startups, including "Liva Semiconductor", which was sold to

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

in 2016 for $320 million. In July 2011, he was listed among the founding investors in Annapurna Labs, responsible for developing server chips for

Amazon AWS Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. Clients will often use this in combination w ...

. Annapurna Labs was sold in 2015 to the American company Amazon for about $370 million. In 2016, he was the president and the first investor in Lightbits Labs. That same year, together with David Dehan and Ran Halutz, he founded Habana Labs, which develops

processors Processor may refer to: Computing Hardware * Processor (computing) ** Central processing unit (CPU), the hardware within a computer that executes a program *** Microprocessor, a central processing unit contained on a single integrated circuit ( ...

for artificial intelligence applications. He was also the first investor in the company and served as its chairman of the board. In December 2019, the company was sold to the American company Intel for $2 billion. Following this deal, Forbes Israel estimated his wealth at $2.7 billion. He was philanthropists of organizations such as Breaking the Silence, B'Tselem, Adalah, and Rabbis for Human Rights. As an environmental activist, he contributed to the Society for the Protection of Nature and the Jewish National Fund, an organization dedicated to preserving open spaces in Israel.

Private life

In 2021, Willenz moved to the canton of Bern in Switzerland, where he resides with his partner. His children and grandchildren live in Israel.

References

External links

"The chip billionaire who left for a cabin in the Alps breaks his silence: 'The state is committing suicide'"
Globes
"The state is abusing those who pay taxes: the chip billionaire who left for a cabin in the Alps breaks his silence"
Globes
"Marvell to acquire LAN-chip supplier Galileo for $2.7 billion in stock"
EE Times

Ynet {{DEFAULTSORT:Willenz Avigdor Living people Israeli philanthropists Former Orthodox Jews Israeli billionaires Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Israeli company founders Israeli chief executives Israeli corporate directors Israeli electrical engineers 1957 births Hebrew University Secondary School alumni