Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc

​Apple showcases Oxford Nanopore in M3 silicon chip launch

31 October 2023

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc (LSE: ONT) ("Oxford Nanopore"), the company delivering a new generation of nanopore-based molecular sensing technology, was showcased in Apple Inc.'s global product launch on Monday. Apple positioned Oxford Nanopore's DNA/RNA sequencing technology as a companion platform that can run on Apple devices equipped with its new M3 silicon chips, supporting broad access to biological insights in scientific research, health, agriculture and industry.

In a blog post, Apple said that its latest M3 silicon chip is now even faster and more powerful to support improved nanopore sequencing, seamlessly integrating with Oxford Nanopore's onboard MinKNOW software to run and analyse DNA/RNA reads from the small-format Oxford Nanopore sequencing devices, the MinION and PromethION 2 Solo. Both products rely on external computing power to process the electrical signals from the nanopore platform.

The upgrade means that anyone with an M3-enabled Apple product, including the Macbook Pro™ and iMac™, will be able to access the same high-definition sequencing data with the MinION or P2 Solo alongside their Apple device. This further enhances the experience over M1 or M2 users and supports future improvements in nanopore sequencing data outputs. The sequencing data is then turned into usable insight through a range of software applications. Oxford Nanopore's higher-output devices that include onboard computing, including the GridION and PromethION 24 and 48, will continue to be powered by NVIDIA's A-series towers.

The new M3 chips' compute capacity can process thousands of inputs at once and in real time - similar to processing 6,000 conversations with Siri simultaneously. Pairing the M3 chip-enabled products with Oxford Nanopore's affordable and accessible MinION and P2 Solo sequencing devices has the potential to enable more global communities to access faster, richer biological data, powered by the latest machine learning technology.

Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore, commented:

"We are incredibly proud to be showcased by Apple as a complementary technology that can seamlessly integrate with Apple's new silicon chips, which is even faster and more powerful to support real-time nanopore DNA/RNA sequencing. Powered by Apple's M3 silicon chips, we are one step closer to achieving our vision of enabling the analysis of anything by anyone, anywhere by making it possible for more scientists around the world to access real-time, data rich DNA/RNA insights with only a MinION or P2 Solo and an iMac or Macbook Pro."

Read more from Gordon here.

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For further information, please contact:

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc

Investors:          ir@nanoporetech.com

Media:              media@nanoporetech.com

Teneo (communications adviser to the Company)

Tom Murray, Olivia Peters

+44 (0) 20 7353 4200

OxfordNanoporeTechnologies@teneo.com

About Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc:

Oxford Nanopore Technologies' goal is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology that is currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible, and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA.  The technology is used in more than 120 countries, to understand the biology of humans, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and environments as well as to understand diseases such as cancer.  Oxford Nanopore's technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact, rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and agriculture. 

For more information please visit: www.nanoporetech.com

Forward-looking statements

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