Driving Emerging AI Businesses From 0-1 Then Beyond

In 2019, when Abby Guo (郭月玲) joined Graphcore, a UK-based AI chip company headquartered in the UK that develops IPU (Intelligence Processing Unit), a new processor designed specifically for AI and machine learning, there were only four employees in the entire Asia Pacific region, and around 280 employees globally. Graphcore was only three years old in 2019 but had already been crowned as 'the only AI chip unicorn in Europe' and 'Nvidia's primary challenger' by Western media. However, it was relatively unknown in Asia, especially in China back then.

Before that, Abby worked for Baidu in its autonomous driving business unit, Apollo, a world-leading autonomous driving player in the late 2010s. She was part of the early team responsible for product commercialization. The reason she decided to leave and join Graphcore was very similar to why she joined Baidu Apollo. On this new frontier, no one had ventured cutting-edge technology and a fledgling company starting with only a few team members. Abby’s passion lies in driving emerging tech businesses from 0-1 and beyond.

Some of the qualities of Abby, Marketing Director APAC, Graphcore, that have been instrumental in helping the company achieve this transformation include being proactive. “In a fast-growing startup like Graphcore, it's crucial to be proactive and take the initiative to secure resources and build connections necessary for the company to gain visibility and win new partnerships and customer opportunities,” she explains. “For example, we recently signed a strategic partnership MoU with a major cloud company, which began with me reaching out and establishing a connection with one of their engineers during a casual work event. This eventually led to a connection with their president.” Abby is also a pioneer in seeking new technologies and solutions beyond the obvious and keeping a flow in her team.

Abby’s approach is to genuinely understand each team member's unique qualities and create an environment with the right conditions to nurture their growth, encouraging them to thrive and evolve into future leaders. She tries to understand the team members and comprehend the essence of their personalities, values, motivations, and challenges that stir their stability. “For me, leadership is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Diversity and inclusion are where the beauty of leadership truly resides,” says Abby. “I also believe in giving space where they can shine and thrive. Also, get prepared if they lose and be ready to take over the responsibilities any time, build an elastic and anti-fragile co-work system.”

Armed with this mindset, Abby and her team are helping the company to reach new heights in APAC. Graphcore is optimistic for a future where people live healthier, fairer, more informed, more sustainable lives. They see a world where their AI technology brings them into a new era of democratized intelligence that everyone can benefit from. Graphcore's mission is to empower innovators to create the next breakthroughs in machine intelligence using IPUs, ultimately enhancing human potential.

“This mission strongly resonates with my personal commitment to community development. In my role as the marketing lead at Graphcore in Asia Pacific, I'm actively driving the company's mission forward through market education, building community, adopting a customer-centered approach, and continually looking to expand,” elucidates Abby. “Graphcore is a relatively young company, and I’m lucky to be part of its rapid growth journey, which has witnessed a lot of milestones and achievements. Among these accomplishments, one that stands out most to me is Graphcore's commitment to world-class operations as a pioneer in AI computing.”

What sets the company apart is its ability to seamlessly gather feedback from customers spanning Asia, Europe, and the US and directly integrate it into their product evolution—a testament to their dedication to customer-centric innovation. This iterative process has played a pivotal role in refining their IPU, which is probably one of the most sophisticated commercial offerings made from bare ‘sand’ today. They have meticulously overseen every aspect, from silicon design to transforming raw materials into chips, chip integration into systems, and the development of customized software and tools. Adapting their product swiftly based on customer feedback has been no small feat, but Graphcore has successfully achieved it, empowering our customers to tackle their machine learning challenges more effectively.

When it comes to Graphcore, the future is fascinating. As their IPU products evolve, their software becomes increasingly mature, and the ecosystem grows more substantial, Graphcore is poised to become a key player in the AI accelerator industry, standing alongside giants like Nvidia.