Sarah Dai · · 2 min readAI chip unicorn Horizon Robotics raises $600m in series B funding
Chinese AI chip designer Horizon Robotics has secured US$600 million in its latest fundraise, likely one of the biggest of its kind. The round was led by South Korean conglomerate SK Group, memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix, and several Chinese carmaker-backed venture capital funds.
This values the Beijing-based startup at US$3 billion, according to a company announcement. Other backers include China Oceanwide Capital and CMBC Capital and Citic Securities’ One-Belt-One-Road Fund.
Photo credit: Horizon Robotics
Horizon, which also counts US tech giant Intel as an investor, is among a handful of Chinese players focused on developing AI chips to power surveillance cameras, autonomous vehicles and other internet-of-things devices.
Co-founded in 2015 by former Baidu executive Yu Kai, Horizon has a partnership with German luxury carmaker Audi and China’s Chongqing Changan to develop self-driving cars. The company also has businesses in the securities industry and smart retailing.
China is working to shake off its dependency on US$200 billion yuan of annual semiconductor imports. And AI, seen by many as a core technology driving the so-called fourth industrial revolution, has become a focal point for competition between the US and China.
Earlier this week, Hangzhou Nationalchip announced a 150 million yuan round led by a national guidance fund under the State Development & Investment Corp. – which has the Ministry of Finance as a major stakeholder. Chinese VC firm Sinovation has backed both Horizon and Hangzhou Nationalchip.
Cambricon, also a Beijing-based AI chip designer, raised hundreds of millions of dollars in a series B round last June, valuing it at US$2.5 billion.
Chinese tech giants including Baidu and Alibaba are also developing their first AI chips, after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for self-sufficiency in key technologies as part of the country’s Made in China 2025 policy plan. (Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.)
Worldwide, AI chip sales are expected to rise 52 percent annually from US$4.27 billion in 2018 to US$34.3 billion in 2023, according to a February research note by Wells Fargo Securities.
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Editing by Eileen C. Ang
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