SoftBank Group has acquired British semiconductor startup Graphcore, as the Japanese company looks to boost its investments in chips and artificial intelligence (AI).
The companies announced the deal Friday without disclosing financial terms. Bristol-based Graphcore will operate as a SoftBank subsidiary and retain its management team, Graphcore CEO Nigel Toon told reporters at a briefing.
It is the second British semiconductor company that SoftBank has bought, and follows its 2016 acquisition of Cambridge-based Arm Holdings, the chip designer whose technology powers almost every smartphone in the world. Graphcore has often been seen as a champion of the British tech industry – it attended the country’s first AI safety summit last year. But Toon has been openly critical of the government’s lack of support for the industry.
