SoftBank has added $457 million in funding to UK artificial intelligence chip company Graphcore.

CNBC reported on Monday that Graphcore issued a single share worth $457 million on April 10. A company spokesperson confirmed the funds were SoftBank’s investment.

The funding comes as SoftBank continues to bet on AI infrastructure and hardware. Graphcore develops AI chips and systems, and SoftBank acquired it in 2024. At the time, SoftBank said Graphcore, which is headquartered in Britain, would work with the group to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI).

More disbursements are also expected. A person familiar with both companies said the money is part of funding Graphcore is set to receive from SoftBank this year. That suggests support for Graphcore may continue through the year rather than being a one-off investment.

Graphcore was once seen as a rival to Nvidia but had not secured sufficient commercial results before the acquisition. It raised hundreds of millions of dollars but struggled to gain a foothold in the market and ultimately ended up under SoftBank. SoftBank, at the time of the acquisition, described Graphcore as a company with "deep expertise" in semiconductor design. SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son (손정의) has also called Graphcore a company with "deep expertise in chip design" and said it could further strengthen Arm’s leadership in semiconductor intellectual property.

The investment also aligns with SoftBank’s recent AI push. SoftBank has invested tens of billions of dollars in AI in recent years and has pursued an equity investment in OpenAI and an infrastructure investment commitment. After acquiring Graphcore, it announced it would also participate with OpenAI and Oracle in a $500 billion "Stargate" project. It is widening its investments beyond AI models to semiconductors, data centres and systems to run them.

SoftBank is also expanding its semiconductor portfolio. It secured a controlling stake in Arm in 2016, and Arm listed on Nasdaq in 2023. In 2025, it acquired silicon design company Ampere Computing. By deploying additional funds into Graphcore, it is strengthening a structure to build up chip design and AI system capabilities directly.

Graphcore is also moving to expand its business. The company said in October last year it would invest up to 1 billion pounds to open a new AI campus in Bengaluru, India. It is also recruiting hundreds of people in AI, silicon, software and system engineering through its website.

SoftBank is also reported to be pushing a plan to set up an independent AI and robotics company in the United States and list it as early as this year. In France, it is discussing a large AI data centre project. The latest funding for Graphcore can be seen as a follow-up step as SoftBank expands by tying AI semiconductors and infrastructure into a single investment pillar.