Many US companies have invested heavily in China's semiconductor industry, including Intel and Sequoia Capital

As the United States strives to maintain its leading position in key technologies and prevent China from catching up, a survey by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) shows that over the past four years, well-known American companies and venture capital firms such as Intel and Sequoia Capital have doubled their investments in China's semiconductor industry, lending China a helping hand in this technology war.

Data analysis results from the Rhodium Group, a U.S. think tank, show that between 2017 and 2020, U.S. venture capital firms, semiconductor giants and other private investors participated in a total of 58 investment transactions in China's semiconductor industry, more than double the number in the previous four years.

Rhodium Group said that since 2017, the number of investment transactions in China's chip industry involving US venture capital and private investors has averaged about 14 to 15 per year, but last year it suddenly increased to 20, setting a record high.

In addition, PitchBook Data shows that as one of the most active investors, Intel (INTC-US) is supporting a Chinese chip design tool company called Primarius Technologies.

The Wall Street Journal also found that since the beginning of last year, the Chinese units of Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Redpoint Ventures have made at least 67 investments in China's chip industry.

Among them, Sequoia Capital's Chinese department has made at least 40 investments in China's chip industry since last year, including investments in Chinese GPU suppliers Shanghai Muxi Integrated Circuit and Beijing Moore Thread.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that although most investment amounts were not disclosed, financing cases involving American investors have raised at least tens of billions of dollars for Chinese chip startups.

However, some US investors seem to be unimpressed by the above investment. Intel's venture capital department said that the company's return on investment in Chinese chip companies is less than 10% of its global investment portfolio. Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Capital also said that the above investment cases were all made by their independent local teams.