Newshot UK AI chip startup Fractile backed by government funding, valued at $7 billion
IT之家 November 12 news: UK artificial intelligence chip startup Fractile announced yesterday local time that it has completed a Series C funding round of more than $720 million (IT之家 note: approximately RMB 4.814 billion at current exchange rates). According to Reuters, the company's valuation reached $7 billion (approximately RMB 46.801 billion at current exchange rates).
The UK government's sovereign AI venture capital fund and the British Business Bank provided support to Fractile in this funding round, with other investors including Google's venture capital arm and BlackRock.
Fractile aims to build genuinely faster AI inference computing hardware without trade-offs in throughput, model size, or context length. In addition, reports say Anthropic intends to deploy Fractile's "analog in-memory computing" chips in 2027.
UK Minister for AI Kanishka Narayan said:
For a long time, although the UK has nurtured some of the world's most outstanding scientific ideas, the technologies, industries, and wealth created by these ideas have mostly been realized elsewhere. We are determined to change this. If AI is to truly serve the British people, strengthen our public services, and create good jobs across the country, the UK must develop more of the core technologies underpinning AI itself. Fractile embodies the UK's finest ambition, bringing together world-class chip design, engineering, and AI expertise to develop faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient hardware. By supporting outstanding British companies like Fractile, we ensure the UK has the industrial strength and sovereign capability to shape the future of AI, and bring the resulting jobs and economic benefits back to communities across the country.
For a long time, although the UK has nurtured some of the world's most outstanding scientific ideas, the technologies, industries, and wealth created by these ideas have mostly been realized elsewhere.
We are determined to change this. If AI is to truly serve the British people, strengthen our public services, and create good jobs across the country, the UK must develop more of the core technologies underpinning AI itself.
Fractile embodies the UK's finest ambition, bringing together world-class chip design, engineering, and AI expertise to develop faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient hardware.
By supporting outstanding British companies like Fractile, we ensure the UK has the industrial strength and sovereign capability to shape the future of AI, and bring the resulting jobs and economic benefits back to communities across the country.
- "Reports say Anthropic has reached a preliminary supply contract with Fractile, which is seeking a $6.5 billion valuation"