BEIJING, April 26 (Reuters) - Beijing city authorities

have announced subsidies for firms that purchase domestically

produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips, as China seeks to

develop its semiconductor industry and reduce reliance on

foreign technology.

The sizes of subsidies were not specified in a document

outlining the initiative by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of

Economy and Information Technology dated April 24.

"Companies that purchase domestically controlled GPU chips

for intelligent computing services will receive support based on

a certain percentage of their investment," the document showed,

referring to chips known as graphics processing units (GPUs).

Under the initiative, the city targets 100% self-reliance in

smart computing infrastructure hardware and software by 2027.

Achieving self-sufficiency in AI chips, which are essential

for training AI models, has become an urgent task for China as

the U.S. tightens restrictions on exporting advanced computing

products to the country citing national security concerns.

Restrictions announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce

late last year prevented exports to China of advanced chips such

as the A800, H800 and H100 from market leader Nvidia ( NVDA ).

China is cultivating its own AI chip industry in which the

Ascend 910 chips of Huawei Technologies are widely seen

as a potential alternative to products from U.S. rival Nvidia ( NVDA ).

Government-related entities, known as "intelligent computing

centres", have been the major buyers of domestic AI chips.