A cofounder of once-hyped semiconductor startup Graphcore has exited the company, just over a year after it was acquired by SoftBank.
The Bristol-based chipmaker raised more than $700m and hit a valuation of $2.8bn as it became one of Europe’s most promising deeptechs after spinning out from semiconductor company Xmos in 2016.
But the startup, which develops cutting edge processors specialised for AI, struggled to convert technological promise to commercial success and was bought by SoftBank in 2024 for less money than it raised.
Simon Knowles, who founded Graphcore with CEO Nigel Toon, was removed as a director of the business last week, according to Companies House filings. Graphcore confirmed that Knowles had exited the company.
“After driving technical innovation at Graphcore since its inception, Simon Knowles has decided to step away from the company to enjoy his many other interests in life,” Graphcore told Sifted.
“What Simon has achieved as co-founder and CTO of Graphcore is nothing short of remarkable. He guided the development of multiple breakthrough technologies that profoundly impressed both AI pioneers and silicon industry pioneers alike.”
Over nine years as an independent company, Graphcore raised from investors including Molten Ventures, Atomico, Baillie Gifford and Fidelity. It secured a landmark deal to sell its processors to Microsoft in 2019 and that year Toon said the company would make $1bn in revenue in 2024.
But the deal with Microsoft fell through and the company made just $4m revenue in 2023 — its latest year of financial accounts. In late 2023 the chipmaker said there was material uncertainty over its ability to continue as a going concern.
Graphcore has been tight-lipped about the work it’s carrying out as part of the wider SoftBank group. The last announcement the company made on its website was in November, when it said it would recruit for 75 new jobs, across silicon design, hardware, datacenter infrastructure, software and AI research.
SoftBank is also a majority shareholder in UK chip designer Arm, which is currently worth nearly $150bn, and speculation has mounted over collaborations between the two.
“Graphcore continues to develop the next generation of AI compute — as part of the SoftBank Group’s mission to unlock artificial super intelligence,” the company said.
Toon hinted that he could step back from Graphcore in an interview with the Times earlier this year. When asked about a possible exit, the company told Sifted he is remaining at Graphcore and continues to lead the company.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/graphcore-cofounder-exits-company-one-year-on-from-softbank-acquisition/
