China has disclosed details about a 60 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion) state fund aimed at early-stage investments in artificial intelligence (AI) projects, underscoring Beijing’s commitment to advancing the industry through state-led investments.
Zhang Jianhua, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology overseeing the fund, said at a conference in Shenzhen that the AI Industry Investment Fund was established in January under the guidance of the industry and finance ministries, the state-run Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday.
The fund will support China’s state-led strategy through equity investments, with contributions from Phase III of the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, the state-backed fund aimed at supporting chip industry investment, according to Zhang.
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The chip industry fund, also known as the Big Fund, established the third phase last year with a registered capital of 344 billion yuan, which was seen as part of the country’s broader push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The AI fund will be managed by Guozhi Investment (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management, a state-backed company, according to Zhang.
The details highlight Beijing’s latest efforts to boost its AI industry development amid a global race for technological dominance and increasing US restrictions aimed at curbing China’s access to advanced technologies.
Beijing has made AI a national priority. While the central government shores up its support for the nascent sector with favourable policies and mandates, China’s AI market is expected to be worth 5.6 trillion yuan by 2030, according to state-backed investment firm China International Capital Corporation.
Incorporated in Shanghai as a joint venture of the Big Fund and Guozhi Investment, the AI fund was created days after the US further tightened export controls for advanced semiconductors and placed more than two dozen additional Chinese companies on its trade blacklist.
The fund will carry out investments throughout the AI supply chain, including in areas such as computing power, algorithms, data and applications, Zhang said. He highlighted embodied AI as one of the areas in which it is planning to invest.
Embodied AI refers to intelligent systems that can perceive, learn from and interact with physical environments, often through robots or other physical agents.
The development of embodied AI will provide an “effective path for the commercialisation of AI”, Zhang said at the event.
He also promised to ramp up support for local companies in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen.
“The National AI Industry Investment Fund is willing to work with all relevant parties in Shenzhen to increase capital, confidence and capacity for high-quality enterprises, and support the high-quality development of China’s AI industry,” he said.
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