Funding for China's AI start-ups more than tripled year-on-year in the first quarter, reaching US$16.2 billion. Investors are heavily backing large language models and robotics, reflecting optimism in the country's tech sector.

Funding for China’s artificial-intelligence-related start-ups jumped nearly threefold year on year in the first quarter, as investors poured capital into large language models (LLMs) and embodied AI amid growing optimism over the country’s technology ecosystem. AI-related start-ups secured more than 110 billion yuan (US$16.2 billion) in the first three months of the year, representing a 185 per cent surge from the same period last year, according to data released on Thursday by Beijing-based...