(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- China's first Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi will form a venture capital fund, focusing on artificial intelligence, blockchain, and quantum computing.

The fund should respond to startups' early-stage financing needs, news outlet Caijing reported on its LatePost WeChat account, citing insiders. The first phase of the fund should garner from USD500 million to USD1 billion. 

After winning the "Nobel Prize of Computing" in 2000 for his work in the theory of computation, Yao returned to China from the US in 2004 to join the renowned Tsinghua University.

Beijing's Tsinghua University, which Yao serves as a computer science professor, will become a limited partner. Some researchers at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences will help manage the fund. Several other partners have been recruited from major investment institutions.

Yao will not take part in fundraising or daily management duties but should offer his technological expertise in reviewing investment prospects, according to an insider. 

Editor: Emmi Laine