By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake:
At stake is the future of the most important part of the deep technology sector. That is, if you believe that the AI revolution currently permeating the world is going to build on — and be more important than — the transistor, the computer and the Internet. Nvidia is the dominant AI-hardware player seeking to expand in multiple directions. Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank Group, wants to transform his company into an AI full-stack powerhouse.
Graphcore Ltd. (Bristol, England) has been acquired by Japan’s SoftBank Group, finally confirming rumors of a deal that had circulated for several months.
We don’t know the purchase price but it is expected to have been less than the $700 million of venture capital raised by Graphcore since its formation in 2016; speculations put the price at about $500 million. As such, this feels like a distressed sale despite the positive gloss that CEO Nigel Toon has put on the deal.