The Chinese company Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co., which specializes in manufacturing activities for making chips for use in artificial intelligence systems, received financial funds for 2 billion yuan ($280 million) as collateral from investors.
Media, citing insiders, report that the money was provided by investors supported by the Guangzhou government. In October, the mentioned company manufacturing chips for the configurations of machine intelligence was blacklisted by Washington. Shortly after, the firm was provided with investment funds.
The media also reported that in recent weeks the company has contacted officials in Hong Kong, intending to receive additional financing. Insiders say that the firm is considering establishing operations in the Chinese territory. The media informants, in this case, used the right of anonymity, since the data they reported is not publicly available. Insiders claim that negotiations between the chip manufacturer and Hong Kong officials are continuing, noting that the result of this process can be anything, which means there is no high probability of a positive agreement.
The success of Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology in raising funds from investors who are associated with the local government in the city of Guangzhou, located in the southern part of China, is because currently technology firms in the Asian country, including Baidu Inc., are looking for homegrown alternatives to microcircuits from Nvidia. Chinese companies’ access to advanced chips is limited due to Washington’s appropriate measures.
In China, besides Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology, other manufacturers of microcircuits can potentially compete with Nvidia. For example, local authorities and some technology companies are betting on Moore Threads Intelligent Technology startup Beijing Co. This manufacturer of artificial intelligence chips was sanctioned by the United States in October. The media reports that the startup managed to raise hundreds of millions of yuan following the results of the B-plus series financing round.
Major Chinese technology industry players such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu, having made significant profits this season, havetened to assure investors that they had managed to accumulate sufficient stocks of Nvidia chips to implement initiatives related to artificial intelligence. Baidu claims. that the new version of its large language model can compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 in terms of capabilities.
Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology is considering listing in Hong Kong by the end of this year. At the same time, it is worth noting that the media reported this back in July, but since then no action has been taken in the appropriate direction, and 2023 is already nearing completion.
Experts say that if the Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology store opens in the Chinese territory, there will be a significant factor stimulating the ambitions of the Hong Kong government to develop the local chip industry. If a positive scenario is implemented in this case, Beijing will be able to ensure technological sovereignty, including in the sphere of advanced semiconductors.
As we have reported earlier, Chipmaking Gear Companies Record Sales Growth in China.
