“Chinese Nvidia” Xiangdixian Responds to Dissolution Rumors: Currently Undergoing Workforce Optimization

On August 31, employees of Xiangdixian, a Chinese unicorn in the chip industry, took to social media to reveal that the company had declared dissolution. As a result, over 400 contracts were terminated immediately, leaving these employees jobless.

Xiangdixian, a domestic GPU design firm established in September 2020, was once celebrated as a beacon of hope in China’s high-performance chip sector. Some media outlets even dubbed it the “domestic Nvidia.” From its inception, the company garnered considerable industry attention. With a focus on the research and design of high-performance GPU chips, Xiangdixian’s goal was to create chips suitable for desktops, servers, and data centers. The company quickly raised an impressive 2.5 billion yuan shortly after its founding, a significant sum in the domestic chip industry. These funds were allocated to support the research and development of core technologies, thereby advancing China’s independent innovation in the high-performance chip field.

Led by leading scientists in the domestic computer and chip industries, Xiangdixian quickly assembled a comprehensive chip research and development team of over a hundred industry veterans. The company’s headquarters are located in Chongqing, with branches in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Suzhou.

Initially, Xiangdixian enjoyed favor from investors. However, as market conditions shifted and the company’s internal issues came to light, it faced increasing difficulties in securing financing. This culminated in a financial crisis in August 2024, forcing the company to announce its dissolution.

Insiders revealed that Xiangdixian had sought funding in 2023 at a pre-investment valuation of 12 billion yuan but failed to secure new investors. Despite lowering its valuation to 8 billion yuan, the company still couldn’t attract new investments.

In 2023, Xiangdixian began to downsize, and rumors of layoffs surfaced multiple times. These layoffs affected not only general employees but also senior R&D staff, leading to several labor arbitration cases.

Laid-off employees reported that the company was evasive and non-transparent during the layoff process, promising to provide severance compensation only by September 30, 2024. Now, with only a month left until that date, the sudden announcement of the company’s dissolution has left many employees feeling frustrated and helpless. Many have lost faith in the company’s promise of severance compensation, suspecting that even by September 30, the company might not fulfill its commitment.

In response to the dissolution rumors, Xiangdixian denied the claims, acknowledging that they are indeed “facing certain market adjustment pressures,” but emphasized that they had not taken steps toward dissolution or liquidation. The company also addressed the rumors of layoffs, stating they were in the process of “optimizing the organizational structure and personnel configuration, including adjustments to some team members to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency.” However, they stressed that they would continue to maintain and strengthen the company’s core R&D and operations team.

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