08-05-2025
Beijing pours tens of millions of dollars into fostering Nvidia-free AI ecosystem in China
The Yizhuang Development Zone aims to establish a nationally leading AI industry ecosystem using only Chinese technology. — SCMP
Beijing is allocating tens of millions of US dollars in subsidies to stimulate growth in the city's artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain, using entirely domestic technologies, as China invests heavily in its technological self-reliance drive.
The Yizhuang Development Zone, also known as the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, said on Wednesday it aimed to establish a nationally leading AI industry ecosystem valued at 80 billion yuan (US$11 billion) by the end of this year, according to a plan shared on its official WeChat account.
The ecosystem would rely only on Chinese semiconductors, operating systems and open-source software frameworks to ensure self-sufficiency and control, policymakers said.
A key focus would be to 'accelerate research and development for high-performance graphics processing units' and support the development of chips based on the RISC-V architecture.
RISC-V stands for the fifth generation of the Reduced Instruction Set Computer, a design philosophy for simplified architectures for central processing units. While not nearly as widely used as Intel's x86 or Arm's platforms, RISC-V has been gaining traction because of its open-source code base, especially in mainland China.
The new plan also includes up to 10mil yuan in funding support for groundbreaking innovation in areas such as quantum computing, optical computing and biological intelligence.
The initiative highlights Beijing's commitment to developing domestic chips for AI training and reducing dependence on foreign technology, especially in light of the tightening export restrictions imposed by the US.
Those curbs limit China's access to a range of chips from US manufacturers, including Nvidia, whose products are highly sought after for AI training and operations.
The Yizhuang Development Zone also plans to continue investing in computing resources by establishing two high-performance AI server clusters, each consisting of tens of thousands of chips, to support a variety of multimodal, video and 3D generative AI models.
According to the plan, up to 20 million yuan in computing subsidies and 1 million yuan in funding will be allocated to data centres and AI start-ups. It forms part of China's broader 'AI Plus' action plan, aimed at fostering the development and real-world application of AI across traditional sectors.
Under 'AI Plus', the technology will be integrated into personal computers, smartphones and other consumer electronics. It will also be implemented in other fields, including medical and pharmaceutical research, embodied intelligence for humanoids and other robots, smart manufacturing and autonomous driving, according to Beijing authorities. – South China Morning Post
