The chip developer is expanding its video-processing chips into generative AI applications and preparing to mass-produce next-generation hardware.
Beijing Transtreams Technology, a chip developer spun off from short-video platform Kuaishou Technology, has raised 1 billion yuan ($150 million) in a Series B funding round, bringing together a broad group of financial and strategic investors.
The round was jointly led by state-backed venture capital fund Yizhuang Guotou Yitang Shenghe Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, and Zhaohui Capital. Other participants included Guotai Haitong Kaiyuan, Huakong Investment, China Life Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Fund, CCB Investment, and Hong Kong Science Park Venture Fund.
Industrial investors Shixi Capital, Loongson Ventures, and Anhui Wenlü Investment also participated, while existing shareholders Shunxi Fund, Waterwood Investment Group and Jiuzhi Capital increased their investments.
The financing will support the development and mass production of next-generation chips as Transtreams, known in Chinese as Beijing Lingchuan Technology, expands its capabilities across hardware, software and computing platforms.
From Kuaishou’s chip division to independent developer
Transtreams was jointly established by the Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund and Kuaishou Group. Formerly Kuaishou’s heterogeneous computing and chip division, the company was spun off in March 2024 to operate independently.
The company focuses on video intelligent-processing chips, with applications spanning video encoding, distribution and AI-generated content.
Its SL200 intelligent video chip has already achieved commercial deployment at scale. The company says it has sold nearly 100,000 units, supplying major internet companies including Kuaishou, Alibaba Cloud, Baidu Cloud and Bilibili.
The chip covers 99.7% of Kuaishou’s livestreaming-related operations, according to the company. Since the beginning of this year, Transtreams has also expanded its deployment through partnerships with telecommunications operators, targeting data centers, smart security, entertainment and transportation.
The company has built its reputation around specialized video-processing hardware. At the MSU 2022 World Video Encoder Competition, its SL200 chip ranked first in 16 of 24 performance indicators across the HEVC 4K and 1080p hardware-encoding categories.
Transtreams also received recognition at the 2023 Global Digital Economy Conference and was selected as one of China’s internet industry’s 10 representative innovation and development cases at the 2023 World Internet Conference.
Next-generation chips target AI-generated video
Transtreams is developing a new generation of chips designed to reduce the cost and processing time associated with AI video production.
In April, the company completed tape-out of a chip based on domestically developed 3D stacking technology. It recently received the manufactured chips back from the foundry for testing, with mass shipments expected next year.
The new product targets the video-generation process, complementing the existing SL series. Together, the two product lines are intended to cover the full video workflow, from production and recommendation to content moderation and distribution.
The company’s technical strategy includes integration into the RISC-V open-source ecosystem, a deterministic-latency DiPU architecture and a 3D near-memory architecture. Through hybrid bonding and advanced packaging, Transtreams aims to integrate chips with different functions and manufacturing processes.
These technologies are intended to improve computing efficiency for demanding video and multimodal AI workloads.
Building a full-stack video AI platform
Transtreams is also developing software and platform capabilities to complement its chip business.
Its proprietary unified computing platform, LUCAS, has been adapted and optimized for a range of leading open-source and video-generation models, including Alibaba’s (9988.HK) Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang, Tencent’s (0700.HK) Hunyuan Video, and MiniMax (0100.HK).
The company has also launched Nebula, an AI-generated video platform covering both text-to-video and image-to-video workflows. It is targeting applications in content production and cultural tourism.
Transtreams’ founder, chairman and CEO Liu Lingzhi, holds a doctorate from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Washington. He previously held senior technology management positions at Huawei and Intel, as well as serving as a vice president at Kuaishou.
Liu began building Kuaishou’s heterogeneous computing and chip team from scratch in 2018. Transtreams says its core team, drawn from companies including Kuaishou, Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, Nvidia, AMD, Intel and Arm Holdings, has an average of more than 15 years of experience in chip design, software algorithms and infrastructure.
The team has led the tape-out and mass production of more than 10 AI and video chips.
With its existing commercial deployments and new AI video-generation hardware in development, Transtreams is seeking to extend its position beyond conventional video processing into the increasingly demanding computing requirements of generative video.
Source:
Shengchi Capital
