Graphcore, a U.K.-based artificial intelligence (AI) processor developer, is considering its strategic options. The company is facing difficulties raising money from investors and may be seeking a buyer for a deal worth around $500m (£400m), reports The Telegraph. Among the potential purchasers the newspaper names Arm, OpenAI, and Softbank, though none of these entities confirmed any talks with Graphcore.
Despite raising over $700 million from investors like Microsoft and Sequoia (with a massive valuation at $2.8 billion as of late 2020), Graphcore has struggled to become a viable player on the market of AI processors with its intelligence processing units (IPUs), partly due to closure of its China business due to U.S. AI technology restrictions last year.
