Analysis
EVAS Intelligence, a Beijing-based AI computing-chip startup, completed a financing round of nearly RMB 2 billion (roughly $280 million) at a post-money valuation approaching RMB 15 billion (about $2.1 billion), according to PANews and TechFlow Post. More than 20 investors participated, including Huatai Innovation, Eastern Bell Capital, SMIC-linked Zhongxin Juyuan, Tongfu Microelectronics, Sieyuan Industry Fund and several Beijing government-backed industrial funds.
From RMB 1.5B To RMB 15B
The step-up is steep: EVAS's prior Series B round was reported at a post-money valuation near RMB 1.5 billion, meaning this new round roughly tenfolds the company's valuation in a relatively short span. For a domestic Chinese chip startup operating under continued US export restrictions on advanced semiconductor equipment, that pace of repricing signals investors betting heavily on China's push toward chip self-sufficiency rather than on any near-term resolution of the underlying export-control constraints.
“The company's earlier-stage work included self-driving-oriented chip development, evolving toward the general AI-compute chips underpinning this latest round.”
What EVAS Builds
EVAS Intelligence develops general-purpose AI computing-acceleration chips, positioning itself as infrastructure for the broader application of AI technology across Chinese industry. The company's earlier-stage work included self-driving-oriented chip development, evolving toward the general AI-compute chips underpinning this latest round.
Competing Without Nvidia
EVAS competes domestically with Horizon Robotics and other Chinese AI-silicon developers, all building against the same backdrop: US export controls have restricted Chinese firms' access to Nvidia's most advanced chips and to the fabrication equipment needed to manufacture comparable alternatives domestically. That constraint is the central strategic fact shaping every Chinese AI-chip financing this cycle -- companies like EVAS aren't just competing for market share, they're part of a broader, state-supported effort to build a viable domestic alternative to Nvidia's ecosystem.
Two Capital Markets, One Chip Race
This round lands the same week Nscale filed for a US IPO built almost entirely on Nvidia Vera Rubin chip deployments, and Crusoe closed a $3.9 billion round at a $30.9 billion valuation with Nvidia as a direct investor. The contrast is instructive: Western AI-infrastructure capital is concentrating around Nvidia-based compute at enormous scale, while Chinese capital is increasingly directed toward building domestic chip alternatives at a fraction of the dollar volume but with state-strategic backing that doesn't depend purely on venture-return economics.
The risk for EVAS and its peers is execution against a much larger, better-capitalized incumbent: Nvidia's software ecosystem (CUDA) and multi-generation hardware lead remain difficult to displace on pure technical merit, and a RMB 15 billion valuation on a company whose product has not been proven at the scale Nvidia already operates at is a bet on China's chip-sovereignty strategy succeeding as much as it is a bet on EVAS's specific technology.