Graphcore
Graphcore develops Intelligence Processing Units (IPUs) for AI machine learning workloads.
Updated April 2026
Overview
- Website
- graphcore.ai
- Founded
- 2016
- Headquarters
- Bristol, UK
- Segment
- GPU & AI Accelerators
Product overview
Graphcore makes IPUs like the Colossus GC200 (MK2) with 1472 cores, 900MB in-processor memory, and 250 TFLOPS AI compute, powering systems such as the IPU-M2000 (1 petaFLOP) scalable to IPU-PODs with up to 64,000 IPUs via IPU-Fabric. Customers include AI researchers, tech giants like Microsoft, and sectors like finance (Citadel), cloud, robotics, and healthcare. Distinct from GPUs/Nvidia due to massively parallel architecture with in-processor memory, fine-grained parallelism, and Poplar SDK for easy AI model deployment, targeting superior efficiency in training/inference.
Revenue model
Sells IPUs, IPU-POD systems, and software to enterprises via direct/OEM channels; plus support services. Acquired by SoftBank in 2024 (~$600M), operates as subsidiary developing next-gen AI compute.
Moat
- Proprietary Technology
- Patents/IP
- First Mover
Graphcore's key competitive moat is its proprietary Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) architecture, a novel AI chip design optimized for machine learning workloads, supported by extensive patents and strong R&D capabilities that differentiate it from GPU-based competitors like NVIDIA.