BEIJING-BASED investment firm CDH Investments and Hong Kong-based startup SenseTime Group are raising about 3 billion yuan (US$453 million) to invest in firms working on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The companies’ plan for the fund, which according to the sources will be mainly used to invest in growth-stage AI startups worldwide, is in-step with China’s ambitions to spearhead the development of an up-and-coming technology that will propel many sectors in the future.

CDH and SenseTime, which provides technology-based applications like facial recognition, video analyzing and autonomous driving, will act as co-managers of the fund and be known as general partners, one of the sources said.

In July, SenseTime had raised US$410 million, led by CDH and State-backed fund Sailing Capital, in a deal that marked one of the largest fundraising rounds by an AI firm and valued it at over US$1.5 billion.

Last October, Chinese Academy of Sciences and investment firm Hillhouse Capital Group launched one of the country’s first AI-focused funds, with an initial fundraising target of 1 billion yuan.

The hectic fundraising activity linked to the technology comes after China in July unveiled an AI development plan to grow the country’s core AI industries’ value to more than 150 billion yuan by 2020 and 400 billion yuan by 2025.(SD-Agencies)