China last week launched a multibillion-dollar state-invested chip fund that one observer said will likely focus on building advanced chips and the entire supply chain for AI.
“Fund 3 is [establishing] “The entire supply chain. Right now, in funds 1 and 2, we’re really focused on equipment and materials-related areas,” Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, said Wednesday.
“And now, [Fund 3] “Being founded in the midst of the AI boom, I believe they will put more effort and focus on advanced computing chips and memory chips for the future of AI,” Ma told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
China has donated 344 billion yuan ($47.5 billion) Third Investment Fund Aims to strengthen domestic semiconductor industry amid intensifying technology war with the US
The China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund or the Big Fund, is part of China’s efforts to reduce foreign reliance on its domestic semiconductor industry at a time when Western countries such as the United States and the Netherlands are restricting access to China’s advanced technology.
The new fund will be the largest of the three so far. First two rounds of funding In 2014 and 2019, it was 138.7 billion yuan and 204 billion yuan, respectively.
“This capital is of great importance to China’s semiconductor industry, and it is essential as these companies are struggling in the global capital market,” Ma said, citing the Biden administration’s August executive order on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which “restricts the inflow of foreign capital into China’s key technology sectors, including semiconductors.”
“So this is not something China wants to do, but rather something it has to do,” he added.
Analysis of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone, a hit against US sanctions Tech Insight It unveiled an advanced chip made by top Chinese semiconductor maker SMIC. The smartphone is also said to feature 5G connectivity. US sanctions were aimed at blocking Huawei’s access to this technology.