ThisChip completes nearly 1 billion yuan Series B round
ThisChip Technology completes nearly 1 billion yuan (about $148.8 million) in Series B funding, co-led by Shanghai IC Fund and Pudong Venture Capital, to scale commercial deployment of its existing chips and fund development of next-generation agent CPUs for AI PCs and robotics. The round, backed by state and industrial investors including Legend Capital, arrives as Chinese-made silicon pushes into agent-driven computing.
Key Takeaways
- ThisChip Technology completes nearly 1 billion yuan in its largest funding round to date, targeting agent CPU scale-up and next-gen R&D.
- Lenovo's May 2026 global launch of AI hosts powered by the ThisChip P1 marks the first Chinese CPU in a major PC maker's core lineup.
- The CIX ClawCore chip series targets local AI agent workloads from low-power edge devices to high-performance terminals.
- Gartner forecasts 143 million AI PC shipments in 2026, or 55% of the global PC market.
- Robotics demand is rising as the industry nears an embodied-AI breakthrough, though timelines remain uncertain.
Why does nearly 1 billion yuan matter for Chinese agent CPUs?
ThisChip Technology Group announced the Series B round to accelerate two priorities: scaling existing products and mass-producing next-generation agent CPUs. Shanghai IC Fund and Pudong Venture Capital co-led the round, while Legend Capital and other investors increased stakes.
For a five-year-old startup challenging entrenched PC chip incumbents, the capital signals more than funding. State-backed and industrial investors are betting that on-device AI agents can reshape computing beyond the long-dominant Wintel stack.
What chips is ThisChip putting in the market?
In July 2024, ThisChip unveiled the P1, a 6nm heterogeneous SoC with 12-core ARMv9.2 architecture and 45 TOPS of on-device AI compute. In May 2026, Lenovo globally debuted the AI Host P7 and AI Host mini using the P1—described as the first time a Chinese-made CPU entered a global PC giant's core product line.
In March, the company introduced the CIX ClawCore series—ClawCore-P, ClawCore-A, and ClawCore-E—spanning high-performance to low-power scenarios for local large models and AI agents. At the 2026 World AI Conference, it showcased an edge-cloud-device computing matrix and its Agentic OS 2.0.
How does agent computing tie into robotics?
ThisChip sees robotics as a fast-growing line, especially as embodied intelligence demand splits between moderate-compute industrial robots and high-demand humanoid platforms. The company is exploring CPU pairings with Chinese GPUs, AI accelerators, or FPGAs as customers validate solutions.
That push lands amid broader industry anticipation. Unitree Robotics CEO Wang Xingxing told the August 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing that robotics is edging toward a "ChatGPT moment"—when a robot in an unfamiliar home could complete about 80% of tasks via voice or text alone, possibly in two to three years under optimistic forecasts or five to ten years if progress slows, Reuters reported.
What market tailwinds—and risks—lie ahead?
Gartner projects global AI PC shipments will hit 143 million units in 2026, roughly 55% of the PC market. ThisChip still faces Wintel ecosystem inertia, software maturation, and competition from giants such as NVIDIA and Qualcomm.
For readers tracking where compute moves next—from AI PCs to agent terminals and robotics—follow our Future Tech & AI Wonders coverage. According to finance.biggo.com, Sun Wenjian's team aims to expand its partner circle while driving broader on-device model adoption.