Chipmaking expert Xu Zhenpeng leaves OpenAI-funded start-up for Shanghai role

Advanced chipmaking engineer Xu Zhenpeng has left the United States to take up a full-time position at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), one of China’s leaders in artificial intelligence hardware research.Before his return to China, Xu led a team at the California-based manufacturing start-up Atomic Semi, developing 3D printing techniques aimed at making chip production faster and cheaper than conventional methods that used bulky, multimillion-dollar machines.Investors in the company, founded in 2023, have included ChatGPT creator OpenAI’s start-up fund, former CEO of GitHub Nat Friedman and co-founder of crypto investment firm Paradigm Fred Ehrsam, according to reports.Xu, who earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2023, is a rising talent in large-area, micron-precision 3D printing – a technology increasingly used in electronics manufacturing.While pursuing his master’s degree in Florida in 2016, he co-founded a company that built and sold compact, high-resolution 3D printers using liquid plastic.08:30Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?At UCLA, Xu’s research included printing tiny robots that could respond to their surroundings without external controls, using metamaterials engineered to convert mechanical motion into electrical signals.