Shanghai Starfive Technology's chip is based on RISC-V. Unlike Intel's X86 and ARM, it is an open source design that is not controlled by Western companies.
cHina has been trying for years to get its crucial semiconductor industry out of Western technology. Like most parts of the world, China also uses computer chips based on buildings that were built on Silicon Valley pioneer Intel or the British arms. Its push for semiconductor self-sufficiency has become increasingly urgent as relations with the United States deteriorate
Amid daily geopolitical chaos, a little-known Chinese startup backed by Hong Kong billionaire Peter Lee has been making steady progress in developing computer chips that do not rely on Western companies. In fact, it doesn't rely on any company, its chips are based on an open source design called RISC-V.
Unlike Silicon Valley’s mindset that moves quickly and destroys things, Shanghai-based startups called Starfive Technology are taking a careful and computational approach. Starfive was originally an easy win – the RISC-V chip of the smart gas meter, designed for automatic use of gas usage data collection. One of Lee's companies is Hong Kong and China Natural Gas, a pipeline supplier in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Starfive said that since its launch in the second half of 2022, Hong Kong and China Gas (renamed Towngas) have purchased 4 million smart gas watch chips.
Next, Starfive turned its attention to the thriving data center field. The six-year-old startup has developed a RISC-V chip for data center management and plans to be mass-produced later this year. Starfive has found its main customers in the form of Xfusion Digital Technologies, a derivative of Huawei Technologies, a technology giant in China.
“So far, I don't know other RISC-V-based chips that are similar to our data center management chips,” said Thomas Xu, founder and CEO of Starfive. “We are commercially competitive.”
Peter Lee, co-chair of Henderson Land, spoke at a press conference announced in Hong Kong on March 22, 2024, announcing its partnership with Xfusion and Xfusion with Xfusion.
Shanshan Kao/Forbes Asia
Starfive is one of China's earliest RISC-V chip designers, and now, Alibaba (through its chip unit T-head) and Huawei (through Hisilicon) have joined a space. The architecture is used to design everything from smartphones to AI tools such as Chatgpt, although the performance of the RISC-V chip still lags behind Intel's X86 and Arm's eponymous.
Since it is operated by a nonprofit foundation in Switzerland, RISC-V is seen by China as a key means to reduce reliance on Western technology. It is because the country faces extended restrictions on advanced chips and devices in the United States. According to a report in March, China will issue policy guidelines to encourage the first use of RISC-V chips nationwide.
Starfive was founded in 2018 by seed funding from Ful Division Capital, Lee’s family office, who is co-chair of Henderson Land Development in Hong Kong. In an interview with the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in 2020, Lee convinced him to convince American chip designer Sifive that his team invented RISC-V, established a division in China, and later became Starfive.
“At the time, I explained to them that the conflict between China and the United States would only get worse,” Lee said. “If two economies were integrated with each other, it would be a sif opportunity because Intel and ARM would no longer be able to enter China. I successfully convinced them to invest in China.”
Lee's bet proved to be correct. Starfive’s early promoter advantage attracted investor interest, and the government-owned Hong Kong investment company made undisclosed investments in the startup in March. Its other supporters include Chinese search engine behemoth Baidu, SBVA (formerly SoftBank Venture Capital), Chinese investment fund Chengwei Capital and state-backed Chinese Internet investment fund.
Starfive's data center management chip provides remote control function for the server.
Shanshan Kao/Forbes Asia
While other RISC-V chip startups aim to be the most profitable area of chips, namely official intelligence, Starfive is therefore focused on steadily building its technology and chip portfolio. Starfive wants to “learn to walk before running” and avoid creating “stock fantasies” by jumping onto the AI trend, said Alan Chan, general vision partner and chief investment officer at Towngas.
Chan points out Starfive's smart gas watch chip to Towngas. “Smart gas meter chips are what we call low-suspended fruit,” he said. “It's a necessity for customers.”
To strengthen its chip design portfolio, Starfive spent years developing data center management chips. The chip is a microcontroller that provides remote server control functions, allowing administrators to manage the power status of the server, monitor system health and perform maintenance work. Starting in early 2026, Starfive will sell chips to Xfusion, which will deploy them to servers and then distribute them to traditional or AI data centers in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Meanwhile, Starfive is busy dealing with company suggestions as China increasingly promotes RISC-V and as demand for AI continues to grow. Chan and Xu said more than $100 million of that was spent on developing AI computing chips, and they refused.
“RISC-V is very suitable for applications in a specific field, so we will be as far as possible within that field, in limited areas in an ecosystem with clear applications,” Xu said. “We will make one product at a time.”
