What’s new: Chinese software developer Cardinal Operations completed a 200 million yuan ($31 million) C-round of financing from BOC International and Tianren Investment, Cardinal said Thursday.
Founded in 2016 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, Cardinal helps companies optimize processes in manufacturing, logistics, warehouses and sales with artificial intelligence technology. Its clients include JD.com, Xiaomi, Nestlé S.A. and China Southern Power Grid Co. Ltd.
Cardinal said its independently developed optimization solver aims to break a monopoly of foreign software in the field. Optimization solver is a kind of standardized software that uses powerful algorithms to carry out mathematical modeling of clients’ problems and find optimal solutions.
Currently, IBM, American personal credit scoring provider FICO’s Xpress and Gurobi collectively account for more than 90% of the global optimization solver market.
The background: China has been pushing for self-developed core technologies as U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies have blocked their access to U.S.-controlled technologies like semiconductors.
Technology innovation is also a key focus in China’s Vision 2035 development strategy, unveiled in March in Premier Li Keqiang’s annual government work report. Under that strategy, resources will be poured into seven scientific areas, including artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University to its “entity list” as institutions that posed a risk of procuring items for military end use in China. The ban makes students and teachers at the two universities no longer able to access MATLAB, a widely used coding language for technical computing, further alarming Chinese software developers.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)
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