Eyal Waldman on Building Mellanox, Employing Palestinians and Israelis Together, and The Future of AI

On the 10th episode of Invested, Michael hosts Eyal Waldman, the chairman of Waldo Holdings and Co-founder of Mellanox. Waldo Holdings is a family office that focuses on diversified investments in private and public companies, various funds, real estate and other financial platforms and vehicles. Mr. Waldman has been the Co-founder, President, CEO and Board member of Mellanox Technologies since March 1999, a semiconductor company which went public on Nasdaq in 2007 and was acquired by NVIDIA on April 2020 for more than $7B.  Between March 1999 until June 2013, Mr. Waldman served as Mellanox’s chairman of the board.  From March 1993 to February 1999, Mr. Waldman served as Vice President of Engineering and was a Co-founder of Galileo Technology, Ltd., a semiconductor company, which went public on Nasdaq in 1997 and was acquired by Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. in January 2001 for $2.7B.  From August 1989 to March 1993, Mr. Waldman held several design, management, and architecture related positions at Intel Corporation, a manufacturer of computer, networking, and communications products, and was awarded with the “IAA Intel achievement award” and the “Employee of the year” award.  Mr. Waldman serves on the board of directors of several private and public companies.  Mr. Waldman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.  In June 2016, Mr. Waldman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Technion.  You can find Eyal Waldman on https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyal-waldman-968788/ Please enjoy and rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! Key Topics: [00:00] Intro  [03:20] Building Mellanox [07:36] Selling to NVIDIA [08:40] OpenAI and InfiniBand [12:05] InfiniBand vs. Ethernet [14:23] Self-Doubt [16:15] Future of AI [23:50] Making a Difference [27:00] Employing Palestinians and Israelis [30:30] Conflicting Values [31:39] Making Tough Decisions [37:35] Peace Through Business [40:48] Business With China [45:53] Business as a Bridge [49:44] Fear of Failure [52:30] Motivation and Vulnerability [55:14] Mellanox Today Show References: Check Point Galileo NVIDIA Mellanox InfiniBand OpenAI Ethernet ChatGPT Marik Lechner Marvell Technologies Neom Credits: Executive Producer: Erica Marom  Producer: Sofi Levak Video and Editing: Ron Baranov  Music and Art: Uri Ar  Design: Rony Karadi