A Bristol tech company that specialises in machine learning and artificial intelligence has announced plans to create 75 jobs. High-performance chipmaker Graphcore was founded in the city in 2016 and its offices are now based on Wine Street.
The firm said the plans to increase its workforce by 20 per cent come as it develops the next generation of AI computers. The jobs will span a wide range of disciplines, including silicon design, hardware, datacenter infrastructure, software and AI research.
Positions are on offer in Bristol, Cambridge, London, Gdańsk in Poland, and Hsinchu City in Taiwan.
Earlier in the year, Graphcore was acquired by Japanese tech firm SoftBank – a major global investor in artificial intelligence. Neither SoftBank nor Graphcore disclosed the value of the deal at the time, but it was understood to be in the region of $600m.
Following the transaction, Graphcore became a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank but continues to operate under the Graphcore name. At the time, the business pledged to “continue to invest in the creation of high-skilled jobs spanning a range of disciplines”, particularly in the UK.
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“Graphcore is a place where people can come to do their very best work,” said Graphcore chief executive Nigel Toon. “Whether your expertise is in silicon, systems, software, AI research or any of the other functions that we are expanding, this is a chance to work at the leading-edge of your field.”
Graphcore is playing a central role in SoftBank Group’s work to further the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
“Next generation semi-conductors and compute systems are essential in the AGI journey, we’re pleased to collaborate with Graphcore in this mission,” said Vikas J. Parekh, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, at the time of the acquisition.