The Chinese Academy Of Sciences spinout, which is developing deep learning chipsets, has secured $100m in a series A round featuring CAS Investment.
China-based artificial intelligence chipset developer Cambricon Technologies has raised $100m in a series A round featuring CAS Investment, the investment arm of Chinese Academy Of Sciences (CAS), China Money Network reported on Friday.
The round was led by SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, part of the Chinese government’s State Development & Investment Corp, and included e-commerce group Alibaba and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, a subsidiary of electronics producer Lenovo.
The round was filled out by robotics technology provider Zhongke Tuling Century Beijing Technology, Oriza Seed Venture Capital and Yonghua Capital. Alibaba invested through an unnamed subsidiary.
Founded in 2016 by Professor Chen Tianshi as a spinout from the Institute Of Computing Technology at CAS, the company has created a processor called Cambricon-AI that brings deep learning to commercially produced electronics.
The processor will be licensed to companies developing products such as smartphones, security surveillance cameras, robots, autonomous cars, unmanned aerial vehicles and wearable electronic devices.
The round valued Cambricon at more than $1bn according to local media reports, and followed a RMB10m ($1.4m) investment by CAS in April this year.
Cambricon had reportedly also received an eight-figure renminbi amount from IT product developer iFlytek, Oriza and Yonghua in August 2016. It will use the series A funds to expand its range of technology.
