Graphcore opens Southeast Asia regional hub in Singapore

PR Newswire 2021-10-18 03:10

Supporting customers and local teams across high-growth markets

SINGAPORE, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Graphcore – maker of the Intelligence Processing Unit and IPU-POD™ datacenter systems for AI – announces the opening of its Southeast Asia regional hub in Singapore.

The office will support Graphcore’s local teams and customers across ASEAN’s fast-growing economies, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore itself.

Demand for IPU-POD™ datacenter compute systems continues to increase throughout Asia, with customers choosing Graphcore systems because of their superior performance on today’s AI workloads and their ability to unlock new AI techniques for tomorrow’s emerging applications.

Most recently, Korean technology giant NHN and Korea Telecom announced plans to use IPU technology in upcoming AI datacenter projects.

Welcoming new partners

Graphcore is also expanding its presence in Southeast Asia with the expert support of three new Elite Partners – NetWeb and Cxrus, headquartered in Singapore, and INT2, based in Vietnam – who join Graphcore’s global partners.

Working with NetWeb, Cxrus and INT2, Graphcore aims to put IPUs into the hands of many more innovators across the ASEAN region – through cloud and on-prem deployments – enabling them to advance the application of machine intelligence in fields such finance, healthcare, scientific research, industrial and automotive.

Southeast Asia Country Manager at Graphcore, Philip Tan said: "There is a tremendous appetite for Graphcore technology across Southeast Asia and we are making excellent progress adding new customers and partners."

"By establishing our regional hub in Singapore, we will be better placed to serve our in-country teams, support Graphcore users and open up more new markets."

A drive to innovate

As well as serving as a centre for Graphcore’s operations in Southeast Asia, Singapore itself is a rapidly growing consumer of leading-edge technology.

Ranked as the world’s 8^thmost innovative country, Singapore’s vibrant ecosystem is often likened to Silicon Valley thanks to its vast community of start-ups, enterprises and early adopters. The Singaporean government invests significantly in R&D, with up to $150 million set to be invested in AI by 2025.

Welcoming Graphcore’s decision to locate in Singapore, Natalie Black, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, said: "We congratulate Graphcore on their expansion in Singapore. This company is a great example of the UK’s exciting, innovative tech sector and of our world-beating expertise in AI and DeepTech. Graphcore continues Bristol’s long legacy of hardware engineering, and demonstrates the deep UK-Singapore digital trade relationship."

The opening of Graphcore Singapore will create a number of new jobs, increasing over time. Details of open positions at all of Graphcore’s locations world-wide can be found at graphcore.ai/careers.

Research resources

Graphcore will also be using its Singapore centre as a base for collaboration with leading local AI research institutes and universities – another vital aspect of Graphcore’s mission to accelerate AI innovation.

Research labs and universities in Singapore interested in joint research collaborations can apply to Graphcore’s Academic Programme for the chance to test and use IPU hardware in the cloud at no cost.

About Graphcore

Graphcore’s Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) hardware and Poplar software helps innovators make new breakthroughs in machine intelligence. The IPU is the first processor to be designed specifically for Machine Intelligence and offers significant performance advantages compared to other computing hardware, typically used in artificial intelligence.

Graphcore has raised more than $730m in funding from leading financial and strategic investors and is headquartered in Bristol UK, with offices in Cambridge UK, London UK, Beijing China, Oslo Norway, Palo Alto USA, Munich Germany, Paris France, Singapore, Seoul Korea and Tokyo Japan.