Tencent, a Chinese game development company, has joined the government's 'semiconductor movement'.
According to Reuters and Caixin on the 4th, Tencent held the annual 'Digital Ecology Summit' in Wuhan, China on the 3rd and unveiled its own designed semiconductor chip. A total of three types was exhibited: 'Zixiao' for artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, 'Canghai' for video conversion, and ‘Xuan Ling' for network interface control.
Foreign media are analyzing Tencent's semiconductor chip development as a stepping stone to significantly expand its business while participating in the Chinese government's policy to foster the semiconductor industry. Tencent, the world's largest game company, officially announced its entry into the market by posting a job advertisement for semiconductor developers in July.
This is not the first time that Chinese conglomerates have joined the semiconductor industry. Baidu, a search engine solution company, has started mass production of its first AI semiconductor, 'KUNLUN', which was developed in-house in 2018. Alibaba recently unveiled its own 5nm process chip.
The Chinese government is currently focusing on fostering the semiconductor industry with tax support and subsidies, and the number of semiconductor-related companies in China is increasing accordingly. Qichacha a Chinese company information company, reported that the number of newly registered semiconductor-related companies in the country tripled from the same period last year to 15,700 from January to May of this year.
By Staff Reporter Hee-seok Yoon (pioneer@etnews.com)