EVAS Intelligence, a Beijing-based startup building AI computing chips on the open-source RISC-V architecture, has raised nearly 2 billion yuan (roughly $280 million) in a new financing round that values the company at close to 15 billion yuan (about $2.1 billion), according to multiple Chinese financial outlets that reported the deal this week.
More than 20 investors took part in the round, including Huatai Innovation, Eastern Bell Capital, SMIC Capital — the investment arm of Chinese chipmaker SMIC — Tongfu Microelectronics and Hengxu Capital, according to PANews. The new round follows a 1.5 billion yuan Series B that EVAS closed in April, backed by several Beijing state-linked investment funds.
Betting on RISC-V for AI workloads
Founded in 2022, EVAS Intelligence designs full-stack AI computing chips built on RISC-V, the royalty-free, open instruction-set architecture that has become a rallying point for Chinese chipmakers seeking alternatives to licensed designs from Arm and x86 incumbents Intel and AMD. The company pairs that architecture with a tensor-processing-unit-style design aimed at data-center AI workloads, and says its Epoch series of chips has already reached mass production, according to a roundup of the deal by TechStartups.
The raise adds to a wave of venture funding flowing into Chinese AI chip designers this year, as companies there work to reduce reliance on Nvidia and other U.S. suppliers amid continued uncertainty over export licensing. Washington has alternated through 2026 between easing and tightening curbs on advanced chip sales to China, leaving Chinese cloud providers and AI labs with an incentive to secure homegrown supply even as some higher-end U.S. chips remain off-limits.
EVAS is one of several RISC-V-focused chip startups that have drawn large rounds in China this year, alongside optics and packaging suppliers further down the same supply chain. Chinese investors, including state-backed funds, have shown particular appetite for companies positioned as alternatives to Western chip architectures, even as the sector faces broader questions about how much manufacturing capacity domestic foundries can actually deliver.
The company has not disclosed a timeline for further funding rounds or for expanding production of its Epoch chips beyond its current customer base, nor has it named specific customers publicly. Chip industry analysts have generally cautioned that valuations for early-stage Chinese AI silicon startups remain difficult to benchmark, given limited independent performance data and the sector's reliance on continued state and venture backing.
