This acquisition, reportedly valued at about $600 million, is not SoftBank’s first foray into the UK tech scene.

In 2016, SoftBank controversially acquired British chip designer Arm in a much larger deal. However, the Graphcore purchase comes at a lower valuation than the total funding the company is said to have raised, which was around $700 million.

Graphcore will continue to operate under its own name and maintain its headquarters in Bristol, UK. The company also retains its offices in Cambridge, London, Gdansk, and Hsinchu, signalling SoftBank’s commitment to preserving Graphcore’s established presence and operations.

Nigel Toon, co-founder and CEO of Graphcore, said: “This is a tremendous endorsement of our team and their ability to build truly transformative AI technologies at scale, as well as a great outcome for our company.”

Toon went on to emphasise the ongoing demand for AI compute and the work that remains to be done in improving efficiency, resilience, and computational power to fully realise AI’s potential.

Graphcore’s key offering is a range of “Intelligence Processing Units” – accelerators designed specifically for AI workloads – along with a software stack that allows developers to utilise its hardware effectively.

The company’s technology has often impressed. In 2020, a Graphcore device outperformed an Nvidia A100 GPU, and in another instance, its hardware halved the time required to handle a GPU-based drug discovery workload.

Despite these technological successes, Graphcore has struggled to generate significant revenue and achieve profitability. In 2022, the company reported revenue of just $2.7 million – a 46 percent year-on-year decrease – while operating expenses reached $206.8 million.

Vikas J. Parekh, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, commented: “Society is embracing the opportunities offered by foundation models, generative AI applications, and new approaches to scientific discovery.

“Next generation semiconductors and compute systems are essential in the AGI journey, we’re pleased to collaborate with Graphcore in this mission.”

The mention of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) in Parekh’s statement suggests that SoftBank sees Graphcore’s technology as a key component in the pursuit of more advanced AI systems that can match or exceed human-level intelligence across a wide range of tasks.

Graphcore has built a reputation as a leading employer in the UK’s high-tech economy, and the company has committed to continuing its investment in creating high-skilled jobs across various disciplines.

The acquisition of Graphcore by SoftBank is likely to provide the AI chipmaker with significant resources and opportunities for expansion. It also reflects the increasing competition in the AI chip market, where companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD have been vying for dominance.

As AI continues to permeate various sectors of the economy and society, the demand for specialised AI hardware is expected to grow. Graphcore’s integration into SoftBank’s portfolio positions both companies to capitalise on this trend.

See also: PC market finds new momentum amid AI interest

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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Speaking at SoftBank’s annual meeting in Tokyo on June 21, Son painted a picture of a future where AI far surpasses human intelligence, potentially revolutionising life as we know it. Son asserted that by 2030, AI could be “one to 10 times smarter than humans,” and by 2035, it might reach a staggering “10,000 times smarter” than human intelligence.

SoftBank’s CEO made a clear distinction between artificial general intelligence (AGI) and ASI. According to Son, AGI would be equivalent to a human “genius,” potentially up to 10 times more capable than an average person. ASI, however, would be in a league of its own, with capabilities 10,000 times beyond human potential.

Son’s predictions align with the goals of Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), founded by Ilya Sutskever, former chief scientist at OpenAI, along with Daniel Levy and Daniel Gross. SSI’s mission, as stated on their website, is to “approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs.”

The timing of these announcements underscores the growing focus on superintelligent AI within the tech industry. While SoftBank appears to be prioritising the development of ASI, SSI is emphasising the importance of safety in this pursuit. As stated by SSI’s founders, “We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead.”

It’s worth noting that the scientific community has yet to reach a consensus on the feasibility or capabilities of AGI or ASI. Current AI systems, while impressive in specific domains, are still far from achieving human-level reasoning across all areas.

Son’s speech took an unexpectedly personal turn when he linked the development of ASI to his own sense of purpose and mortality. “SoftBank was founded for what purpose? For what purpose was Masayoshi Son born? It may sound strange, but I think I was born to realise ASI. I am super serious about it,” he declared.

Son’s predictions and SoftBank’s apparent pivot towards ASI development, coupled with the formation of SSI, raise important questions about the future of AI and its potential impact on society. While the promise of superintelligent AI is enticing, it also brings concerns about job displacement, ethical considerations, and the potential risks associated with creating an intelligence that far surpasses our own.

Whether Son’s vision of ASI within a decade proves prescient or overly optimistic remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the race towards superintelligent AI is heating up, with major players positioning themselves at the forefront.

See also: Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet beats GPT-4o in most benchmarks

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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The post SoftBank chief: Forget AGI, ASI will be here within 10 years appeared first on AI News.

The British chip designer has struggled from relatively flat revenues and rising costs despite the huge success of the company’s licensees such as Apple, Qualcomm, and Amazon.

Nvidia proposed to acquire Arm for $40 billion and ensure the company is able to continue its pioneering work. However, the deal caught the eye of global regulators and rivals voiced their concerns that Nvidia could limit their access to Arm’s chip designs or shift resources towards areas that benefit its new owner.

Despite Nvidia offering legal assurances to counter the concerns, the deal looked set to be blocked by regulators. Last month, Nvidia decided to throw in the towel.

“Though we won’t be one company, we will partner closely with Arm,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the time.

“The significant investments that Masa has made have positioned Arm to expand the reach of the Arm CPU beyond client computing to supercomputing, cloud, AI, and robotics.”

Arm was always now going to face some tough decisions. An IPO (Initial Public Offering) is the most likely outcome but is far from ideal.

SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, considered and subsequently rejected the idea of pursuing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of the company in 2019 and again in early 2020.

“We contemplated an IPO but determined that the pressure to deliver short-term revenue growth and profitability would suffocate our ability to invest, expand, move fast, and innovate,” explained Simon Segars, CEO of Arm, in January.

However, faced with limited options, the IPO route now look set. Arm’s decision to cut its workforce looks to be part of a bid to boost potential investors’ confidence that a more lean operation with fewer overheads will improve rather than hinder the company’s prospects.

“To stay competitive, we need to remove duplication of work now that we are one Arm; stop work that is no longer critical to our future success; and think about how we get work done,” wrote Arm CEO Rene Haas in an email to staff.

Haas, the former head of Arm’s intellectual property unit, recently took over as the company’s chief executive as part of its internal strategy shakeup to help navigate it through these choppy waters.

Arm’s appeal is the company’s technical expertise in a world where such talent is a hot commodity. The company will need to convince investors the cuts won’t impact Arm’s groundbreaking work.

SoftBank is obviously keen to put a bullish outlook on Arm’s future.

“Arm is becoming a centre of innovation not only in the mobile phone revolution, but also in cloud computing, automotive, the Internet of Things, and the metaverse, and has entered its second growth phase,” said Masayoshi Son, Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman, and CEO of SoftBank Group.

Whatever happens, we hope Arm finds a way to continue delivering the innovation that it has for the past three decades.

(Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash)

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo. The next events in the series will be held in Santa Clara on 11-12 May 2022, Amsterdam on 20-21 September 2022, and London on 1-2 December 2022.

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The post Arm is cutting up to 1,000 jobs after Nvidia deal collapses appeared first on AI News.

The deal caught the attention of global regulators with anti-competition investigations launched in several jurisdictions including the UK, EU, and US.

In November 2021, UK Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries decided to block the merger pending the results of a 24-week ‘Phase 2’ investigation.

With the merger looking almost impossible to be approved by regulators, Nvidia has decided to throw in the towel.

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of Nvidia, said:

“Arm has a bright future, and we’ll continue to support them as a proud licensee for decades to come.

Arm is at the centre of the important dynamics in computing. Though we won’t be one company, we will partner closely with Arm.

The significant investments that Masa has made have positioned Arm to expand the reach of the Arm CPU beyond client computing to supercomputing, cloud, AI, and robotics.

I expect Arm to be the most important CPU architecture of the next decade.”

Arm has struggled from relatively flat revenues and rising costs despite the huge success of the company’s licensees such as Apple, Qualcomm, and Amazon.

SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, considered and subsequently rejected the idea of pursuing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of the company in 2019 and again in early 2020.

“We contemplated an IPO but determined that the pressure to deliver short-term revenue growth and profitability would suffocate our ability to invest, expand, move fast, and innovate,” explained Simon Segars, CEO of Arm, last month.

Following the collapse of the Nvidia acquisition, Softbank will now have to reconsider an IPO for Arm.

Dr Lil Read, Analyst in the Thematic Research Team at GlobalData, commented:

“Softbank now needs to think of Arm’s future. An initial public offering (IPO) looks likely – the UK government would surely like to see the home-grown chip designer float in London, and potential IPO reforms could create the perfect environment for this. 

Otherwise, Arm may be ripe for a takeover by a private equity consortium backed by chip-friendly giants such as Apple, Qualcomm, and TSMC – Arm’s largest customers.”

Some of Nvidia’s rivals are said to have offered to invest in Arm if it helps the company to remain independent. A takeover from a private equity consortium looks to be Arm’s best option. If the company has to launch an IPO, it could struggle and will face some difficult choices.

Arm’s largest market, mobile, is saturated. The company will struggle to crack the datacentre and PC markets in the face of strong incumbents like Intel and AMD that have established ecosystem of developers, software, systems, and peripherals, and profits that enable them to make large R&D investments.

In an earlier response to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, aiming to quell the regulator’s fears about its acquisition of Arm, Nvidia wrote:

“Nvidia is particularly concerned that these pressures would drive Arm to deprioritize datacenter and PC and to instead focus on its core mobile and growing IoT businesses.

The result would be a concentrated CPU market largely controlled by Intel/AMD (x86).”

Capital markets would likely expect Arm to cut costs to maximise the company’s value. However, SoftBank sounds bullish on its prospects.

“Arm is becoming a centre of innovation not only in the mobile phone revolution, but also in cloud computing, automotive, the Internet of Things, and the metaverse, and has entered its second growth phase,” said Masayoshi Son, Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman, and CEO of SoftBank Group.

Arm has announced a management shake-up in the wake of Nvidia’s exit from the deal.

Rene Haas, the former head of Arm’s intellectual property unit, will take over as the company’s chief executive and lead it during these challenging times. Haas previously worked at Nvidia for seven years.

With the Nvidia acquisition off the table, we can only hope that Haas finds a way to ensure Arm can continue to deliver the semiconductor innovation that it has for three decades.

(Photo by Dustin Tramel on Unsplash)

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo. The next events in the series will be held in Santa Clara on 11-12 May 2022, Amsterdam on 20-21 September 2022, and London on 1-2 December 2022.

Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

The post Nvidia exits from its proposed $40B acquisition of Arm appeared first on AI News.