Stock Rongyi News Today's Topic --- He doesn't understand technology, but he raised 4.7 billion to make chips. If there is a real opportunity to change an industry, even if you lose all your money, you must try.

If an entrepreneur who is not from the industry tells you that he wants to make a GPU chip to catch up with Nvidia, but he has only prepared a PPT for now.

As an investor, how would you choose?

Zhang Wen is such an entrepreneur outside the industry.

He has a doctorate in law from Harvard University and rich management experience.

In his early years, he was a senior investor in the Pan American and Asian markets on Wall Street; in 2011, Zhang Rujing, the founder of SMIC, founded Yingrui Optoelectronics Technology Company again, and Zhang Wen was invited to serve as the company's CEO; in 2018, Zhang Wen served as the president of SenseTime Technology.

Led the landing of SenseTime Technology Headquarters in Shanghai.

But when he decided to found Biren Technology in 2019, in the eyes of the outside world, Zhang Wen was still a layman in the field of GPU (graphics processor) with no industry background.

On May 16, 2019, the United States added Huawei to the entity list, and many American chips were cut off from Huawei.

Affected by this, the first small upsurge in chip entrepreneurship was set off in China.

Zhang Wen also had the fire of starting a business in his heart. He saw that there was a huge domestic AI chip market, but more than 90% relied on foreign products.

AI chips have unique opportunities in China: first, because the theoretical architecture of AI chips is constantly being broken through; second, because of China’s data advantages, AI chips most need scenario and data iteration.

"At that time, I was the only founder who didn't understand technology in the big chip circuit, and I didn't even know a big master in GPU at that time." Zhang Wen later told the early investors, "If I were you, I wouldn't dare

Invest in Zhang Wen. "The development of things is always unexpected. Biren Technology not only raised money, but also set a record.

From its registration on September 9, 2019 to the completion of Series B financing in March 2021, in just 18 months, Biren Technology’s financing amount exceeded 4.7 billion yuan.

Investors let Biren Technology set a financing record for domestic chip startups.

Zhou Zhifeng, a partner at Qiming Venture Partners, an early investor, is certain: When we met Zhang Wen and the founding team of Biren Technology, we had the right people, the right ideas, and the right market demand to capture.

In an industry with wide tracks, high barriers, and long cycles, there are too many uncertainties.

In the vast development process of science and technology, there are some powerful new technology stars whose myths were shattered and fell away; there are also startup companies that survive and overtake in corners.

Although he doesn't understand the specific technical details, Zhang Wen knows his advantages: "My previous entrepreneurial experience has well proved my ability to integrate capital, talents and resources." If you don't understand, then hire someone to help.

He found a friend at Harvard, who gave him a list of GPU giants.

Friends told me that if we can only gather half of the people, we will be successful. After all, it is difficult to find suitable talents from China.

Investors asked Zhang Wen whether US$100 million was enough?

But Zhang Wen said an astronomical figure as soon as he opened his mouth - 10 times higher: 1 billion US dollars.

He did some calculations and found that the starting price of a chip company is about 200 million U.S. dollars. After the tape-out is completed, a software team of thousands of people will be needed. This cost is also measured in hundreds of millions. If the ecosystem is to be completed, 1 billion will be needed.

Just a few dollars less.

With more money comes controversy.

The outside world labeled Zhang Wen a capital maniac, and there were also criticisms of Biren Technology’s “sky-high” financing.

The promise was fulfilled.

On March 28, 2022, during the lockdown period due to the epidemic, Zhang Wen and nearly a hundred core employees chose to stay in the company together, ushering in the most critical node of the company together.

Three days later, on the evening of March 31, Biren Technology’s first general-purpose GPU chip BR100 series was successfully lit.

"People who can succeed in starting a business are basically a little paranoid." Zhang Wen did not shy away from this statement, "I have a logical thinking that is different from others. If 90% of people agree to do something, I will not do it.

Yes, if 90% of people are against it and say not to do it, I will do it instead. "The choice of GPU track also follows this logic.

Stock Rongyi Information: Technology, capital and economic trends --- Huawei Wang Tao: Comprehensively moving towards the 5.5G era On July 18, the 2022 Huawei Win-Win Innovation Week kicked off in Shenzhen, Huawei Managing Director, ICT Infrastructure Business Management

In his keynote speech, Wang Tao, director of the committee, proposed the concept of "comprehensively moving towards the 5.5G era", allowing users to have an online experience of 10Gbps. 5.5G achieves a 10Gbps experience through wider spectrum, higher spectrum efficiency, and higher-level MIMO technology.

; Allowing enterprises to obtain computing power from multiple "clouds" with low cost, high agility and more flexibility, incubate more application scenarios, and accelerate digital and intelligent transformation.