Blocked By The US, AI Zhipu Startup Pockets Fresh Funds Of IDR 1.1 Trillion From The Chinese Government!

The Chinese government continues to support the development of AI startups (photo: x @wadekwright ·)

JAKARTA An artificial intelligence (AI) startup from China, Zhipu AI, has secured funding of 500 million yuan (approximately IDR 1.1 trillion) from a state-owned company Huafa Group. This funding was announced just weeks after the company announced its previous fundraising of 1 billion yuan.

Huafa Group, a state-owned conglomerate based in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, recently announced its investment in Zhipu. This was reported by state media Zhuhai Special Economic Zone Daily on Thursday, March 13. This investment reflects the efforts of various cities in China to compete to support promising AI startups, in line with Beijing's priorities in technology competition with the United States.

Previously, Hangzhou, which is the headquarters of Zhipu's competitor DeepSeek, also became the main investor in the funding round worth 1 billion yuan announced this month through a state-owned entity, Hangzhou City Investment Group Industrial Fund.

The funding comes amid the development of DeepSeek, whose large language model is claimed to be able to rival Western competitors with lower development costs.

Founded in 2019, Zhipu AI was known as one of China's "AI Tigers" and has withdrawn investments from tech giants such as Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaomi. According to business registration platform Qichacha, the company has gone through more than 15 rounds of funding and in July 2024 has a valuation of 20 billion yuan (Rp45.3 trillion).

The latest funding will be used to encourage technological innovation and the development of Zhipu's basic GLM model ecosystem, according to a report by Zhuhai Special Economic Zone Daily.

In January 2025, Zhipu and its subsidiaries were included in the US Department of Commerce's export control list, which prohibits it from obtaining components from the United States.