Chinese A.I. CPU Start-Up Enflame Technology Wins $279 Million in Funding From Tencent And Others

China — A company called ‘Tencent’ has poured another large cum of cash into Chinese AI (Artificial Intelligence) chip start-up Enflame Technology.

This news comes as China is pushing for less global-dependence in the semiconductors industry. This is due to the growing rivalry between China and the United States.

Tencent, along with several other key investors including CICC Capital, Primavera, and CITIC have invested $278.5 million dollars (1.8 billion yuan) into the Shanghai-based startup. The company has already gotten several huge cash infusions from Tencent via many prior rounds of funding.

The company that’s getting all the money, Enflame Technology, designed chips that process massive amounts of data used to train machine learning models. These chips are made for data centers.

We are starting to see a bit of a tech arms race as China and the US both ramp up their capabilities in both semiconductors and AI.

Enflame Technology is Going to be Important For China

Silicon is something that Beijing has really been focusing on lately. China is looking to eliminate the current reliance that it has on American technology. But the US is definitely out to get China. We even went as far as blacklisting SMIC, the largest semiconductor manufacturer in China.

This company, at the moment, is still tiny. Make no mistake, however, as Enflame Technology will be key to China’s goals.

Mariane Delapa