PPIO
Category: AI Infrastructure
China's leading independent distributed cloud computing service provider, offering edge cloud and AI cloud services including GPU computing, model APIs, and agent infrastructure. PPIO was founded in 2018. The company is led by Yao Xin (姚欣). Based in Shanghai, China. Team size: 100-499. Total funding raised: $75.0M. Latest round: Series B. Key investors include Harvest Oriental; LCV Pathfinder; Hong Kong Investment Corporation (港投公司); CCV (创世伙伴资本); BlueRun Ventures (蓝驰创投); Panlin Capital (磐霖资本); Shanghai Zhangjiang Technology Venture Capital (张江科投); Boiling Point Capital (沸点资本); HuaYe Tiancheng Capital (华业天成资本); IMO Ventures; Wang Xiaochuan (王小川/百川智能); Tang Binsen (唐彬森/元气森林).
- Founded
- 2018
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China
- Team size
- 100-499
- Total funding
- $75.0M
Value proposition
Cost-effective distributed cloud computing with edge-optimized AI inference, aggregating global computing resources for low-latency, high-bandwidth workloads at significantly lower cost than centralized cloud providers.
Products and solutions
GPU Container Instances; Serverless GPUs; Large Language Model APIs (DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, MiniMax, KIMI); Image/Video Generation Model APIs; Agent Sandbox (PPClaw & PPHermes); Edge Node Services; Edge CDN; AI Inference Acceleration Engine
Unique value
China's largest independent distributed cloud network (4,800+ nodes across 1,588 counties) combined with AI inference optimization (PD separation, 10x10 throughput, 90% cost reduction for DeepSeek-R1) — delivering hyperscaler-grade AI infrastructure at a fraction of the cost.
Target customer
AI developers and enterprises needing cost-effective GPU compute; enterprises needing edge cloud for low-latency applications; AI model developers needing inference APIs; media/video platforms needing CDN and edge computing
Industries served
AI/ML; Video/Media; Metaverse/XR; Gaming; Telecom; Enterprise IT; Smart City/IoT
Technology advantage
Distributed edge cloud architecture aggregating global computing resources; PD (Pre-Filling Decoding) separation technology for LLM inference optimization (10x throughput increase, 90% cost reduction for DeepSeek-R1); 4,800+ distributed compute nodes across 1,588 counties; 10.2ms real-time compute response; Agent sandbox environment supporting browser, code, and custom sandboxes; Compatibility with OpenAI API and Anthropic API standards
How they differentiate
PPIO differentiates through its distributed edge cloud architecture (aggregating idle computing resources rather than building centralized data centers), enabling ultra-low latency (10.2ms real-time compute response) and cost advantages. It operates China's largest compute network by node count (4,800+ nodes) and is the first independent edge cloud provider to offer comprehensive AI cloud services including model APIs, GPU containers, and agent sandboxes.
Main competitors
BaishanCloud (白山云); Alibaba Cloud Edge; Cloudflare; MetaX
Key partnerships
China Tower (中国铁塔 (China Tower); DeepSeek (early access partner for DeepSeek-V4 preview); Alibaba Cloud; Huawei Cloud; UCloud; NVIDIA (GPU infrastructure); Baichuan AI; Tezign (特赞科技)
Notable customers
China Tower (中国铁塔); Baichuan AI (百川智能); Tezign (特赞科技); Yinghua Experimental Middle School; various telecom operators (China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom)
Major milestones
2018: Founded by PPTV founders Yao Xin and Wang Wenyu; 2021: Pre-A round ($10M+); 2022: Series A round (¥2.5B/$37.6M); 2023: Launched AI cloud computing services; 2024: Became China's largest independent edge cloud provider by revenue; 2025-04: Series B ($21M) led by Harvest Oriental and LCV Pathfinder; 2025-06: Filed IPO prospectus with HKEX (valuation ¥46.9亿/~$650M); 2025: Launched Agentic AI infrastructure platform; 2026: Launched DeepSeek-V4 preview with 1M-token context window
Growth metrics
Revenue: ¥2.86B (2022) → ¥3.58B (2023) → ¥5.58B (2024), CAGR 39.7%; Daily token consumption: 0 (2023) → 271亿 (Dec 2024) → 1,419亿 (May 2025); Registered AI developers: 12,112 (2023) → 125,545 (2024) → 295,524 (May 2025); 4,800+ compute nodes; 560,000+ registered users
Market positioning
China's largest independent edge cloud computing service provider by revenue (4.1% market share in 2024 per Frost & Sullivan); among top 2 independent AI cloud computing service providers in China by daily token consumption (1,419亿 tokens/day as of May 2025)
Geographic focus
China (primary); expanding overseas
Patents and IP
Not publicly disclosed in detail; company has proprietary inference acceleration engine and distributed computing technologies
About Yao Xin (姚欣)
Founder of PPTV (P2P streaming media platform, sold to Suning in 2014); Venture Partner at BlueRun Ventures China; Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Computer Science)
Official website: https://ppio.cn