"The significance is that it shows that China has been able to stay 2-2.5 nodes behind the world's best (chip) companies," Dan Hutcheson, an analyst with TechInsights said

State media said the investment was a clear sign of Beijing's push to end the country's reliance on foreign semiconductor firms

Among major backers of the chip designer is smartphone giant Xiaomi, which won approval last month from China's state planner to manufacture electric vehicles

The development follows sanctions-hit Huawei's success in building an advanced 7-nanometer processor, in collaboration with state-backed SMIC

In interviews broadcast on Sunday, the US commerce secretary said China's economy did better when it was more transparent and market-oriented

The 100-million-people country has only 5,000 to 6,000 trained hardware engineers for the chip sector, against expected demand of 20,000 in five years

The company said it will continue to ship the products in its NXT:2000i and more advanced DUV models, which fell under the restrictions that started on Friday

If true, the development of a homegrown 5G chip would mark a win for China's local semiconductor sector, which has seen stock market gains of roughly 8% so far this week

The surprise move, which was part of a slew of measures to bolster the stock market and investor sentiment, threatens to close one of the few bright spots in the country's financial sector this year

Shares of the still loss-making automaker have rallied more than 333% over the past five days, reaching a valuation of roughly $190 billion

The deal is another shot in the arm for the currently loss-making startup, coming on the heels of a stake sale to, and partnership with, Germany's Volkswagen

China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index has dropped to nine-month lows, and is down 11% from an April peak