AI Photo: VCG

China's national artificial intelligence (AI) industry investment fund partnership was recently set up,MK sport billed at 60.06 billion yuan ($8.21 billion), the Securities Times reported on Monday.

The business scope of the limited partnership covers private equity investment, investment management, and asset management, it said, citing Qichacha, an online platform offering company information inquiry services.

The partnership is co-financed by the Third Phase of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and Shanghai Guozhitou Equity Investment Management Co, according to the information.

The fund is vital for the high-quality development of the AI industry in China, especially driving breakthroughs in key innovations, Liu Gang, chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation AI Development Strategies, told the Global Times on Monday.

As a strategic industry, AI not only contributes to the transformation and upgrade of traditional industries but also turbocharges the development of many emerging industries. The technology empowers China's manufacturing sector and helps improve the country's economic structure, Liu said.

In recent years, China's AI industry has achieved sustained progress in innovation, new products creation, industry applications and other areas. The sector has presented new features with the accelerated development of new technologies like large language models.

China now hosts more than 4,500 AI companies. Its core AI industry reached a market size of more than 578 billion yuan in 2023, up 13.9 percent year-on-year, according to official data.

"The development of AI is fast in China, for example, AI-empowered large language models. Aided with government spending, private capital is flowing to the new sector. Increased capital inflow is anticipated to further enhance the sector in 2025," Liu said.

Recently, the US has intensified its suppression of China's AI sector. Last week, the White House released an Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, which will further restrict artificial intelligence chip and technology exports. The new US regulations will cap the number of AI chips that can be exported to most countries, and allow unlimited access to US AI technology only for America's closest allies, while maintaining a block on exports to China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, Reuters reported.

Responding to the US' new measures on AI export control, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on January 14 that the US has been overstretching its concept of national security, politicizing and weaponizing trade and tech issues, and abusing export controls to maliciously suppress China.

"AI is humanity's common asset, and should not become 'a game for the rich countries and the wealthy' or be used to generate another development divide," Guo noted.