Go EuropeAIdirectory

Evidence-backed European AI register

Graphcore

Reviewed identity, roles, model listings, pricing and evidence for Graphcore.

Dataset compiled 2026-08-27 · evidence over inference

cloud2 model listings0 token-price rows

Reviewed identity

Headquarters scope
European non-EU headquarters
Headquarters record
Bristol
Legal entity
Ltd (UK private limited company)
Ownership
wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp (Japan) — acquired July 2024 for a reported ~$500M, with a further ~$457M injected
Founded
2016
Confidence
high
Last verified
2026-08-22

Links

Official website

Open interactive profile

Evidence boundaries

Organisation listings identify a reviewed canonical record. Model listings show an association in the source register; they do not by themselves establish model creation, current API availability, hosting location or infrastructure ownership.

Model listings

  1. Bow IPU (Intelligence Processing Unit)catalogued with this organisation · origin not asserted
    Type
    text
    Parameters
    unknown
    Context
    unknown
    Languages
    unknown
    Licence
    hardware product
    Release
    2022
  2. Izanagi (in development)catalogued with this organisation · origin not asserted
    Type
    text
    Parameters
    unknown
    Context
    unknown
    Languages
    unknown
    Licence
    hardware product
    Release
    unknown

Profile note

OWNERSHIP CAVEAT: the UK's flagship AI-chip company and once its clearest challenger to NVIDIA (peak valuation ~$2.8B), Graphcore was acquired outright by SoftBank in July 2024 and is now a wholly owned Japanese-controlled subsidiary, though HQ and engineering remain in Bristol and it retains the Graphcore name. Hardware, not models. The last Bow IPU product dates from 2022; the current effort is Izanagi, an IPU + Ampere Arm CPU design aimed at SoftBank's Stargate build-out in the US and Japan. The clearest single example of UK AI-hardware sovereignty being lost to a foreign acquirer. No publ…

Record sources

  1. https://www.eetimes.com/ai-chip-startup-graphcore-acquired-by-softbank/
  2. https://www.networkworld.com/article/2518797/softbank-acquires-ai-chip-designer-graphcore.html
  3. https://www.turingpost.com/p/graphcore-unicorn-softbank-acquisition-happened
  4. https://www.exxactcorp.com/blog/HPC/graphcore-bow-ipu
  5. https://docs.graphcore.ai/