BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese AI chip startup Biren Technology has raised about 1.5 billion yuan ($207 million) in fresh funding and is preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said.
The funding round and IPO plan come as China seeks to develop domestic alternatives to U.S. semiconductors amid escalating export restrictions by Washington on advanced chips.
Beijing has prioritised building homegrown champions in graphics processing units (GPUs), which are critical for artificial intelligence development.
The 1.5 billion yuan funding round was led primarily by state-linked investors, two of the sources said. Participants included a state-backed fund from Guangdong province and another from the Shanghai government, according to one source.
Biren initially filed documents for a mainland China listing last year but has since shifted focus to Hong Kong, partly due to stricter regulatory requirements on the mainland including less tolerance for loss-making companies, two of the sources said.
The company is preparing to file for a Hong Kong listing in the third quarter, potentially as early as August, one source said. It was not immediately clear if Biren had appointed advisers for the IPO.
Biren was valued at approximately 14 billion yuan prior to the latest funding round, two of the sources said.
Biren, and the Guangdong provincial and Shanghai governments, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The sources, who spoke to Reuters, declined to be named as the information is not public.
Developing domestic GPU capabilities has become critical for China as the U.S. has tightened export restrictions on advanced semiconductors. The latest measures, implemented in April, prompted U.S. chip giant Nvidia to halt sales of its H20 AI chips to Chinese customers.
The potential market for Chinese AI chip companies is substantial. Investment bank Morgan Stanley predicted in a May client note that domestic GPU makers could generate 287 billion yuan in sales by 2027, capturing 70% of the Chinese market compared with 30% last year.
FACED UPHEAVAL
Founded in 2019, Biren’s co-founders include Zhang Wen, formerly a president at leading AI face-recognition company SenseTime, and Jiao Guofang, who previously worked at Qualcomm and Huawei.
The company initially drew attention from investors and industry observers in 2022 when it unveiled its first batch of products, including the BR100 chip, which it claimed could match the performance of Nvidia’s advanced H100 AI processor.
However, the company was added to the U.S. ‘Entity List’ in 2023, preventing it from using leading global foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to manufacture its chips.
Biren has since experienced significant upheaval, with some senior executives departing, including co-founder Xu Lingjie.
It continues to operate at a loss and generates limited revenue, recording 400 million yuan in sales in 2024, according to two of the sources.
The company’s general-purpose GPU products have been deployed across multiple intelligent computing centers, and its partners include China Mobile, China Telecom, ZTE, and the Shanghai AI Laboratory, according to its official website.
Some of these companies have also been targeted by U.S. restrictions, including China Mobile and China Telecom, which the Federal Communications Commission said in March it is investigating for potential evasion of U.S. sanctions.
Biren also faces intense competition from other Chinese AI chip companies, including Huawei and peers such as Tencent-backed Enflame and Metax.
(Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
