Exclusive | How early bet on photonics gave this Chinese venture capital firm an AI windfall

🇭🇰 public Hong Kong · May 31, 2026 · 357 words · By Wency Chen

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What to know about Exclusive

ExclusiveHow a decade-long bet on photonics handed this Chinese venture capital firm an AI windfall For Mi Lei, founder of venture capital firm CAS Star, the sudden fascination with photonics is less a surprise than a delayed validation As artificial…

Claims checked 6

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left20%

Center60%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

For Mi Lei, founder of CAS Star, a venture capital firm born out of a research institute under the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the sudden global fascination with photonics is less a surprise than a delayed validation.

Common ground

It is a thesis he has spent more than a decade trying to support with funding.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Exclusive?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Mi Lei, founder of venture capital firm CAS Star?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3355360/how-decade-long-bet-photon…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 6 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified By Reference 4

info Single Source 2

verified

Claim 1: “Mi Lei, founder of venture capital firm CAS Star”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While Wikipedia confirms the existence of CAS Star as a venture capital firm backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, none of the provided evidence mentions 'Mi Lei' as its founder. One search result mentions 'Mr. Milei' in the context of Argentina, which is a different person.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — CAS Star (Chinese: 中科创星; pinyin: Zhōngkē Chuàngxīng) is a Chinese venture capital firm that focuses on investments in hard tech startups. It is backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_Star

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — i-Space (Chinese: 星际荣耀; pinyin: xīngjì róngyào; lit. 'Interstellar Glory'; also known as Space Honor, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., Interstellar Glory or StarCraft Glory) is a Chin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Space_(Chinese_company)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Xiaomi produces smartphones (Xiaomi, Redmi, Poco and Black Shark brands), tablets, laptops, wearable devices, TVs, routers, and other smart home devices on their web store and on third-party websites.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xiaomi_products

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 2: “more than 200 of CAS Star’s roughly 600 portfolio companies span the broader photonics sector”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided consists of dictionary definitions for the word 'over' and unrelated astronomical data. No information regarding CAS Star's portfolio size or photonics sector concentration is present.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list covers all known stars, white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and sub-brown dwarfs/rogue planets within 20 light-years (6.13 parsecs) of the Sun. So far, 133 such objects have been found. Only 22 are …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The star-forming regions of Cassiopeia are an extensive portion of the sky rich in giant molecular clouds and highly luminous associations of blue stars; the name derives from the Cassiopeia constella…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star-forming_regions_of_Cassio…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TMSR (a shortened initialism of English Thorium Molten Salt Reactor Nuclear Energy System translated from Chinese: 钍基熔盐堆核能系统) is a long-term research and development project of the Chinese Academy of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMSR_(Chinese_reactor_project)

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Mi, who holds a doctorate in optics from the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under CAS”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of unrelated Wikipedia entries for Xiaomi, Michigan, and Graphene. There is no mention of Mi Lei or his educational credentials.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gǎnyìng or yìng is a Chinese cultural keyword meaning a "correlative resonance" pulsating throughout the purported force field of qi that infuses the cosmos. When the idea of ganying first appeared in…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganying

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Graphene () is a variety of the element carbon which occurs naturally in small amounts. In graphene, the carbon forms a sheet of interlocked atoms as hexagons one carbon atom thick. The result resembl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Quantum teleportation is a technique for transferring quantum information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away. While teleportation is commonly portrayed in science fiction a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_teleportation

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 4: “Yuanjie Technology... has seen its shares surge more than elevenfold over the past year”

SINGLE SOURCE

A web search result from 'Silicon' specifically states that Yuanjie's share price has risen elevenfold over the past year. However, this is the only source confirming this specific financial detail for this company.

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web search NEUTRAL — Yuanjie’s optical communications chips are used in data centres to improve interconnect speeds and increase overall bandwidth and efficiency. The company’s share price has risen elevenfold over the pa…
https://www.silicon.co.uk/cloud/datacenter/china-data-centre…

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web search NEUTRAL — Shares of Rigetti Computing (RGTI +5.25%) are up more than elevenfold over the past 12 months. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +8.13%) stock has skyrocketed more than 600%.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/01/31/these-are-hands-do…

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web search NEUTRAL — Megaworld shares have surged more than elevenfold since 1999, outpacing a 212 percent gain in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index, as Tan's strategy to create self-contained communities around call ce…
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/elevenfold

info

Claim 5: “Yuanjie Technology, a Shaanxi-based laser-chipmaker that CAS Star invested in around 2019”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim refers to the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry numbers and does not mention Yuanjie Technology or investments made by CAS Star.

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web search NEUTRAL — CAS Registry Numbers (CAS RN) are simple and regular, convenient for database searches. They offer a reliable, common and international link to every specific substance across the various nomenclature…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_Registry_Number

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web search NEUTRAL — CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society. It is a source of chemical information and is located in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Abstracts_Service

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web search NEUTRAL — CAS REGISTRY®, the CAS substance collection, is the premier source relied upon by scientists and regulators worldwide for accurate information on chemical substances.
https://www.cas.org/cas-data/cas-registry

verified

Claim 6: “CAS Star, a venture capital firm born out of a research institute under the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia explicitly states that CAS Star is a Chinese venture capital firm backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; Chinese: 中国科学院) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Academy_of_Sciences

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made significant scientific innovations, findings and technological advances across various scientific disciplines including the natural sciences, engineering,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_and_technol…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.