Tsinghua spinout Infinigence closes $324M Series C, a record for Chinese AI infrastructure

IPO Zaozhidao reported that the round, about $324 million, has fully closed. That brings Infinigence's total funding since its 2023 founding to RMB 4.3 billion, about $606 million. The investors in this round were not named. Another outlet said the backers were not disclosed and called it a likely pre-IPO round, following reports of a confidential Hong Kong listing filing. Earlier backers include Tencent, Baidu, Lenovo, HongShan, Qiming Venture Partners, Shunwei Capital and several state funds. Infinigence came out of Tsinghua University's electronic engineering department. It runs a platform that pools different domestic and foreign chips, plus a model-as-a-service layer and industry solutions. Chinese coverage compared it with Fireworks AI, Baseten and Together AI, whose valuations have multiplied over the past year. For builders, the round shows Chinese capital concentrating on inference clouds that hide chip fragmentation from developers. That capability is becoming essential as export controls push Chinese AI companies onto mixed hardware.