Chinese AI Startup Manycore Makes Global Push Amid US Tensions
China’s AI startup, Manycore Tech Inc., is driven to expand its global presence despite the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing which pose significant challenges for Chinese companies in developing and marketing advanced technologies internationally.
The Hangzhou-based spatial design software supplier, potentially a formidable competitor to US-based Autodesk Inc., has established local teams in over ten countries including the US, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia to serve its enterprise customers.
“All the countries need our product but we should pick some countries to run, to focus on,” Manycore’s co-founder and Chairman Victor Huang mentioned in an interview. “Our global business is also growing very fast, especially for the freemium model. So, I think it has great potential for globalization.”
Mr. Huang, at the age of 40, is among a new wave of young Chinese AI entrepreneurs like Mr. Xiao Hong of Manus AI, who are expressing global ambitions even as China-based companies draw increased scrutiny in the West.
To enhance its capabilities, Manycore is hiring talent from prestigious US and Chinese universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Mr. Huang himself holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has previously worked for Nvidia Corp. in the US. His bachelor’s degree is from Zhejiang University.
Manycore currently provides two main products globally – Coohom and SpatialVerse. As of 2024, the company recorded an average of 86.3 million monthly active users with customers spread over more than 200 markets, as per the company’s initial public offering prospectus.
Domestically, Mr. Huang’s company is recognized as one of Hangzhou’s Six Little Dragons, a group of notable hardtech startups including DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics. Manycore is on track to be the first among these to go public, having filed for an IPO in Hong Kong in February, having moved away from an earlier US listing plan following Didi Global Inc.’s New York debut troubles.
Despite common challenges faced by Chinese tech firms, such as limited access to Nvidia’s most advanced AI semiconductors, Mr. Huang remains undeterred. Manycore is channeling engineering resources to optimize every legally available computing power, including renting from service providers like Amazon Web Services.
“We don’t need the high-end GPU right now, because our strategy is to make rendering and AI cheaper with lower prices for our users and to make it faster,” explained Mr. Huang, noting the company’s reliance on semiconductors from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. “Our legal teams ensure all our purchases are legal, then we build our own software and system based on the legal hardware.”
Additionally, Mr. Huang emphasized making products affordable for potential clients, aligning with a strategy often adopted by Chinese firms across various industries such as electric vehicles, which involves aggressive pricing strategies to prioritize market share over immediate profitability. Manycore reported a loss of 422.1 million yuan (S$77.7 million) in the first nine months of 2024, marking over two years of consecutive losses.
“When I founded our company, we wanted everyone who needed our product to be able to afford it, so we strive to make something cheap enough for all users. We want to reach as many users as possible. That is our strategy,” he stated.
