Founded in 2018 with seed funding from Lee's Full Vision Capital, Starfive is one of China's early RISC-V chip designers, alongside Alibaba and Huawei. The company aims to build its technology and chip portfolio steadily, avoiding the AI hype and focusing on domain-specific applications. Starfive's approach has attracted investments from entities like Hong Kong Investment Corp., Baidu, and others. As China promotes RISC-V and AI demand grows, Starfive is evaluating proposals, including a declined $100 million offer for an AI computing chip, emphasizing a careful, one-product-at-a-time strategy.
Key takeaways:
- Shanghai Starfive Technology is developing RISC-V-based chips to reduce China's reliance on Western technology, with backing from Hong Kong billionaire Peter Lee.
- Starfive's RISC-V chips are used in smart gas meters and data center management, with significant customers like Towngas and Xfusion Digital Technologies.
- China views RISC-V as a crucial means to reduce reliance on Western technology amid U.S. restrictions, and is set to encourage its use nationwide.
- Starfive focuses on building its technology steadily, avoiding the AI hype, and aims to develop domain-specific applications with clear needs.