Chinese smart chip startup Birentech announced on Sep 6 that it is launching a new GPU product line.

Detail: Co-founder Guofang (Golf) Jiao said Birentech's new GPU will support industries such as gaming, AR, VR, emulation and video, with a focus on the buzzing "metaverse" use cases, such as helping users develop "digital twins". Jiao said that the company aims to fuse hardware with AI software technology in the future.

“Birentech is closer to Chinese markets. Our GPU products will be optimized to accustom to local applications,” said Jiao.

Context: The first batch of 7nm GPU, another product from Birentech is expected to tape out later this year, competing against Nvidia’s next generation Tensor Core GPU. 

The RTX A2000 GPU, recently introduced by Nvidia, will help power the Santa Clara-based company's Omniverse, a simulation and collaboration platform, to a wide range of mainstream computers.

AI hardware companies like Birentech and Nvidia have been banking on metaverse, a trendy technology that can be more simply understood as virtual, immersive environments in which users can interact with each other and the world using avatars, or digital twins. Epic Games' popular Fortnite  is one prime example of metaverse, in which the company has not only provided regular gaming features, but also developed several non-gaming related interactive use cases, such as one immersive trailer screening event for the sci-fi movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.