Tech war: Shanghai AI chip maker with disgraced chairman is now China’s new hope in race to catch up with Nvidia
- The Tiangai 100 GPU, which took four years to develop and is used in cloud computing applications, has received US$33 million worth of orders so far
- The award marked a reversal in fortunes for Iluvatar Corex, whose chairman was implicated in a sweeping anti-graft case two months ago
A Shanghai graphics processing unit (GPU) start-up – whose chairman is under investigation for corruption – has received a state-backed award for innovation, prompting speculation that it is being groomed as a potential domestic substitute after US suppliers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices were restricted from exporting high-end GPUs to China.
Iluvatar Corex, whose Tiangai 100 chip claims to be the only Chinese-made GPU in mass production, was recognised as a second place getter, along with two other local tech start-ups, in a competition run by the Shanghai municipal government. First prize in the “Maker in China” competition was awarded to Shanghai nanotechnology firm Nalinv.
The award marked a reversal in fortunes for Iluvatar Corex, which only two months ago was engulfed in scandal when its chairman, Diao Shijing, became the latest target in a sweeping anti-corruption probe into the Chinese semiconductor industry.