SoftBank recently officially announced the acquisition of the UK artificial intelligence chip company Graphcore, making it a fully-owned subsidiary. Although the specific transaction amount has not been publicly disclosed, Graphcore co-founder and CEO Nigel Toon stated that this is a positive outcome for most people. Graphcore was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Bristol, UK, where it developed a new processor called the "Intelligent Processing Unit" (IPU). Unlike the Graphics Processing

UK AI chip company Graphcore has laid off most of its employees in China and stopped sales in the country due to increased U.S. export controls. Once a popular startup in Europe, Graphcore is now facing losses, order losses, and funding difficulties. The company's CEO pointed out that the Chinese market accounted for 20% to 25% of its revenue, and the layoff decision will impact its development in China. Graphcore is struggling with bad luck, management mistakes, and software issues, leading to unclear business direction and low morale. The UK government has not included Graphcore in its domestic support.