A unit of Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group has led a series A financing round in Westwell Lab, a Shanghai-based artificial intelligence chip maker start-up specialized in Neuromorphic engineering.
Fosun made the investment via its venture capital unit Fosun Tonghao, in the Chinese entertainment and investment conglomerate's first major foray into the AI sector. No financial details of the round were disclosed.
Founded in 2015, Westwell is unique among Chinese AI start-ups. Instead of providing AI capabilities such as voice recognition, image recognition or other tech solutions to enterprise clients, Westwell is focused on developing an AI chip the size of a stamp simulating the activities of human nerve cells.
The company's products include a Neuromorphic chip named DeepSouth, which can teach, train and enhance itself with high level of integration, and a Neuron chip named DeepWell, which is more efficient in the self-learning process than traditional GPUs, the company said.
"AI chip is an important part and the foundation of the entire AI industry. Westwell's brain-like chip can be applied in a number of sectors including precision medicine, smart terminal, financial security and autonomous driving. I believe the company has great potential," said Liu Qikai, founding partner of Fosun Tonghao.
U.S. chip maker Nvidia Corporation dominates the existing GPU market, with more than 70% market share. GPUs, or graphics processing units, are the most popular chips powering AI currently. Other tech companies including Google have entered the field betting on the market's future growth potential.
While most Chinese AI companies are focused on providing tech solutions, numerous AI chip start-ups have emerged in China lately. Hangzhou-based AI chip maker Canaan, for example, raised a RMB300 million (US$43 million) series A round last month from a number of investors including Chinese hotel operator Jin Jiang International Group Co., Ltd.
Westwell currently has a team of 40 AI engineers from Imperial College London, University of Oxford, and University of California, Berkeley. It plans to use the latest proceeds to invest in research and development.