China steps up investment in AI chips with funding for Hangzhou Nationalchip
- The new funding will bankroll Nationalchip’s research on chips, software and algorithm designs, and speed up development of new products
A Chinese government-linked fund led investment into a local chip maker amid efforts by the country to tap an artificial intelligence boom.
A national guidance fund under the State Development & Investment Corp (SDIC) – which has the Ministry of Finance as a major stake holder – led the 150 million yuan (US$22.3 million) B round for Nationalchip, according to Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by former Google China head Lee Kai-fu, who has written several books about AI.
Sinovation also participated in the funding round. The SDIC-linked fund could not be reached for comment as it did not have a website or listed phone number.
Founded in 2001, the Hangzhou-based company is a major chip maker for set-top boxes and has expanded into AI chips used for voice-command speakers and other ‘internet of things’ applications. The new funding will bankroll Nationalchip’s research on chips, software and algorithm designs, and speed up development of new products, according to a statement on Monday.
China is working to shake off its dependency on US$200 billion of annual chip imports. AI, dubbed by many as the fourth industrial revolution, has become a flashpoint in increasingly tense trade and technology relations between the US and China – the two biggest economies in the world. Programmable chips can be used in different applications of AI and are used to power a range of devices including face-scanning cameras and autonomous vehicles.
“AI chips have been quite a hot area for investors,” said Gu Wenjun, founder of Shanghai-based semiconductor research firm ICwise. The market has attracted a rising number of players, including Chinese start-ups such as Horizon Robotics, Cambricon and crypto-mining equipment giant Bitmain. In June, Shenzhen-based Cambricon raised hundreds of millions of dollars in a B round that valued the Beijing-based start-up at US$2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Chinese tech giants including Baidu and Alibaba are also developing their first AI chips, after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for self-sufficiency in key technologies as part of the country’s Made in China 2025 policy plan. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
“The combination of AI and IoT will unleash huge market opportunities,” said Fang Yimin, partner of Sinovation Ventures in the statement. “As one of the earliest AI chip makers for the internet of things, Hangzhou Nationalchip has strong capabilities in chip design and marketing.”
Worldwide, AI chip sales are expected to rise 52 per cent annually from US$4.27 billion in 2018 to US$34.3 billion in 2023, according to a February research note by Wells Fargo Securities.
