- SoftBank has injected over $450 million into Graphcore
- The funding follows SoftBank’s 2024 acquisition of the British chipmaker, once viewed as a challenger to Nvidia
- Graphcore is accelerating global expansion, including a planned £1 billion AI campus in Bengaluru
SoftBank has injected more than $450 million into British chipmaker Graphcore. According to CNBC, citing a Companies House filing, the company issued a single share valued at roughly $457 million, with Graphcore later SoftBank has injected over $450 million into Graphcore
The fresh capital comes less than two years after SoftBank acquired Graphcore in 2024, rescuing a company that had once been considered one of the strongest European challengers to Nvidia. While financial details of the acquisition were never officially disclosed, the latest investment signals that SoftBank sees Graphcore as a central piece of its long-term semiconductor ambitions.
A person familiar with the arrangement told CNBC the latest injection represents only a portion of the funding Graphcore is expected to receive from SoftBank this year.
Founded in 2016 by Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles in Bristol, Graphcore became one of Britain’s most prominent semiconductor startups during the global AI boom. The company specialised in intelligence processing units, or IPUs, processors designed specifically for machine learning and complex AI workloads. Its chips were positioned as an alternative to GPUs used widely across AI infrastructure.
At its peak, Graphcore was widely described as the UK’s answer to Nvidia and reached a reported valuation of around $2.8 billion in 2020 after raising funding from Sequoia and Microsoft, among other investors. Despite strong technical credentials, the company struggled to scale commercially as Nvidia tightened its dominance over the AI hardware market.
The company has also undergone leadership changes since the SoftBank takeover. Co-founder and former CEO Toon stepped down from leadership following the acquisition , marking a major transition for the once-independent British chipmaker.
SoftBank has continued building a broader semiconductor and AI infrastructure portfolio around Graphcore. Founder Masayoshi Son previously said Graphcore’s chip expertise complements Arm Holdings, another key SoftBank-owned asset. The group also acquired Ampere Computing in 2025 while expanding its chip operations globally.
Beyond semiconductors, SoftBank is increasing investments across AI infrastructure projects. The company is involved in the $500 billion Stargate initiative alongside OpenAI and Oracle, while also exploring a major AI data centre project in France and plans for a separate AI and robotics company in the United States.
Graphcore’s next expansion phase is expected to centre heavily on India. The company previously announced plans to invest up to £1 billion into a new AI campus in Bengaluru, where it plans to hire hundreds of engineers across silicon design, software systems, and AI infrastructure.
