China’s Cambricon Technologies, a leading domestic AI chip startup, has endured a turbulent rise marked by the brilliance of its founding brothers and the pressure of shifting geopolitics. Formally known as Beijing Zhongke Cambricon Science and Technology Co., the firm was founded in 2016 by brothers Chen Yunji, 42, and Chen Tianshi, 40. Both were child prodigies at the University of Science and Technology of China and later earned doctorates at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, laying the groundwork for their entry into AI chip design.