The US’s tensions with China have helped the country rise in prominence for global tech companies, but its AI infrastructure is still developing
[LONDON] Graphcore, the British chip designer owned by SoftBank Group, is planning to announce a £1 billion (S$1.7 billion) investment package in India that includes a new research hub.
The announcement is scheduled as part of a delegation of UK businesses joining Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a trip to India this week, sources familiar with the plans said. Graphcore, which is based in Bristol, plans to open the research facility in Bengaluru and share plans to hire as many as 500 people over the next five years, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Graphcore and SoftBank declined to comment.
Graphcore began as a promising potential rival to Nvidia, designing specialised chips meant to develop artificial intelligence (AI) services. Investors gave the startup a valuation of US$2.8 billion in 2020, but Graphcore struggled to find commercial traction.
SoftBank purchased the company in 2024 for an undisclosed amount, part of founder Masayoshi Son’s ambitious plans to capitalise on the spending frenzy around AI infrastructure. After the SoftBank acquisition, Graphcore said that it would increase its hiring in the UK and globally.
India has emerged as a potentially major AI arena, with the country of 1.4 billion adopting the technology in industries including agriculture, education and manufacturing to boost efficiency. While still a small part of their revenue, global tech companies from Nvidia to Microsoft and Meta Platforms are betting on the rapidly growing economy as a growth market that can emerge as an alternative to China.
The US’s tensions with China have helped India rise in prominence for global tech companies, but its AI infrastructure is still developing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to establish a domestic semiconductor industry and expects the first made-in-India chips to hit markets by year-end, though the country’s initial target is less-advanced products.
Modi’s government has set up a 760 billion-rupee (S$11 billion) fund to attract international chipmakers. No major semiconductor firms have committed to big investments into the country, however. Two of its biggest projects include a US$11 billion wafer fabrication site by Tata Group in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and a roughly US$3 billion assembly and testing facility by US-based Micron Technology.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is also scouting local partners to set up a data centre with at least one-gigawatt capacity, Bloomberg has reported. BLOOMBERG
