Alibaba, Tencent Join Funding for Chinese AI High-flyer Baichuan
- Phone maker Xiaomi also participated in a $300 million round
- Chinese AI investment is surging as tech firms join race
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. have joined a $300 million financing for Baichuan, one of scores of Chinese AI startups hoping to capitalize on a surge of interest in developing ChatGPT-like services.
Smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. also participated in the early funding round for Baichuan, started in April by the founder of search engine Sogou and already a unicorn valued at more than $1 billion. Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital also took part, according to a person familiar with the deal. The company now employs more than 170 people including engineers drawn from the ranks of Google, Huawei Technologies Co. and Tencent, the company said in a statement.