(Yicai) Oct. 23 -- Smartphone giant Oppo Mobile Telecommunications is reportedly planning to acquire Chinese large language model developer AIWaves.

Oppo will buy AIWaves and hire the startup’s founder and Chief Executive Jiang Yucheng, according to an insider from AIWaves, Jiemian News reported yesterday. “There’s no more information to disclose at the moment,” a spokesperson for the Dongguan-based company told Jiemian.

The global smartphone industry is evolving rapidly, with companies racing to incorporate artificial intelligence in their handsets so as to remain competitive.

Founded last year, AIWaves completed a CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) Pre-A round of financing in January from investors such as Jing Xiandong, chairman of financial technology giant Ant Group. The company’s main product is Weaver, a Chinese-language LLM.

Editor: Futura Costaglione