Zhipu has brought in over 2.5 billion Chinese yuan ($341 million) this year, with support from big names in tech such as Alibaba and Baidu. Its aim is to become China's next OpenAI-style organization, as it creats AI models. This announcement from Zhipu has come at an opportune moment, with the technology competition between the U.S. and China escalating and AI playing a crucial role.
Some of China's prominent tech companies such as Alibaba and Tencent have invested in Zhipu, a start-up aiming to become the country's version of OpenAI, it was reported on Friday. Zhipu has collected more than 2.5 billion yuan ($341 million) in funding this year, as stated in a statement. In addition to Sequoia and Hillhouse, leading companies including Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Tencent have also put money in the new venture.
Zhipu is a Chinese start-up aiming to create AI models that can power various applications. In August, it released a generative AI chatbot based on the models. This technology is able to craft answers in reply to user queries, upon which OpenAI, an American firm, popularized with its own ChatGPT AI chatbot. Zhipu's announcement of investors arrives amid the tech rivalry between the U.S. and China that has AI in its epicenter. China wants to leverage AI to stimulate its economic growth, which is why it intends to boost its computing strength by 50% by 2025. Nevertheless, the U.S. has sought to impede China from accessing the necessary technology to form AI models, such as Nvidia's top-tier A100 and H100 graphics processing units. Washington further tightens the rules by extending the restrictions to cover more Nvidia chips, as Nvidia holds a dominating position in the GPU market for AI training requiring large data volumes.
Among many Chinese startups that are attempting to foster the growth of the AI industry in their country, Zhipu is one of them. Investors including Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu supported Baichuan, another young AI business, this week, supplying it with a $300 million funding. The "Big Three" tech giants of China, (namely, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu) are all busy creating and launching products that are built on their respective AI models.
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