Amid the surge of AI chip companies rushing to the capital market, a low-key yet precise early-stage investment institution is coming into the spotlight. Yaoke Capital has gained attention by focusing deeply on the computing power infrastructure sector and making forward-looking investments. The projects it invested in years ago, such as Bitmain, Hanbo Semiconductor, Cloud Leopard Intelligence, and Xintuo Microelectronics, are now entering the Hong Kong stock market listing or A-share IPO preparation stage, with early investments starting to yield substantial returns.
Founded by Bai Zongyi and Yang Guang, Yaoke Capital systematically bet on domestic high-performance computing chips since 2019. Unlike most institutions chasing the "domestic substitution" narrative, Yaoke emphasizes technological originality and global competitiveness: in 2019, it led the investment in Hanbo Semiconductor (specializing in AI inference and video processing GPU); in 2020, it heavily invested in Bitmain (high-performance general-purpose GPU); in 2021, it participated in the early-stage financing of Cloud Leopard Intelligence (DPU and data center chips). Each step was precisely timed with key nodes of the AI computing power boom.
Today, these portfolio companies have become important forces in their respective fields. Bitmain and Hanbo Semiconductor have secured a place in the large model training and inference market; Cloud Leopard Intelligence's DPU solutions are rapidly being adopted by cloud service providers; Xintuo Microelectronics has made breakthroughs in high-speed interfaces and Chiplet technology. As the capital market's valuation system for hard tech becomes increasingly mature, these companies are collectively moving towards IPOs, marking the official transition of China's AI chip industry from "laboratory breakthroughs" to the "commercial validation" new phase.
Notably, Yaoke Capital has recently completed an oversubscribed fundraising for its new fund and successfully been selected as a partner fund manager of the National SME Development Fund (the national entrepreneurship guidance fund), further strengthening its strategic position in the hard tech investment field.
Industry analysts point out that the long-term value of AI infrastructure is being re-evaluated, and chip companies with real capabilities in fundamental architecture innovation and mass production experience will become the core assets of the next phase of the capital market. Yaoke Capital's rise is not only a successful financial investment but also a precise bet on the path of China's computing power self-reliance.
