Graphcore sold and Biden rattled

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Happy Euros final eve eve. Before all eyes turn to Berlin this weekend, big news out of Bristol this morning as another promising British AI company has been snapped up.

Graphcore, which was once dubbed “Britain’s Nvidia”, is on the verge of being sold to the Japanese investment giant SoftBank after the government green-lit the deal. Having been valued at £2bn in a 2020 financing round, the value of the deal for the chipmaker is reported to be closer to $500m (£386.9m).

The company has been looking for further investment after cutting its headcount by a fifth and shutting operations in Norway, Japan and South Korea. Graphcore’s co-founders Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles are expected to remain as chief exec and CTO. While its HQ is said to be staying in Bristol, the UK’s ability to nurture fast-growing tech companies has been thrust into the spotlight again.

Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, has admitted that the deal is a “reminder of the important work that needs to be done” to make the UK “the best place to start and grow a business.”

SoftBank controversially bought Arm for £24.3bn in the same year Graphcore was founded. The Cambridge-based chip designer was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September last year and contributed significantly to Softbank’s £1.18bn profits for the first quarter of 2024.

Our editor-in-chief Graham Ruddick wrote the following on the day Arm floated:

There has been much soul searching in the City about Softbank choosing to list Arm in New York rather than London. But the demand to buy shares in Arm is a reminder of the positive side of this story – a world-class technology company was built in the UK.

Across the pond, president Biden’s re-election chances have been dealt another blow after a pair of gaffes last night. He took to the stage at the Nato summit in Washington to introduce the Ukrainian president but called Volodymyr Zelensky “president Putin”.