Nigel Toon

CEO & Co-Founder, Graphcore

Speaker Bio

Nigel Toon is a leading figure in AI and is often called upon to speak at major industry events. He has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including being ranked No. 1 on Business Insider’s ‘100 most influential people shaping British technology’ and as one of ‘The UK’s top 100 entrepreneurs’ by the Financial Times.


Nigel is a technology business leader, entrepreneur and engineer, having been CEO at three successful venture capital-backed processor companies, including Graphcore, which he co-founded, and which developed a new type of microprocessor specifically for artificial intelligence. He was previously a senior executive at a major Silicon Valley, publicly listed semiconductor company.


He has served as a board member and chairman for several technology businesses and currently sits as the senior non-executive director on the board of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is a non-departmental UK public body that directs over £8bn per year into research and innovation funding. He has also been a member of the UK’s Prime Minister’s Business Council.


Nigel is the author on 3 granted patents and has been awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Bristol. He has recently written a book titled ‘How AI Thinks’ which is being published in February 2024 by Transworld/ Penguin - Random House.