Beijing is investigating a technology company that promised to deliver new homegrown computer central processing units (CPU) but failed to deliver, state media reported. Beijing-based Arca Technology Corp, a privately owned firm, received some US$12.4 million to develop a new CPU, Arca III, by December 2003 but work was suspended. Officials discovered in June 2004 that the funds had been misused and the chip the company delivered did not meet technical standards. In 2001 Arca claimed to have developed the country's first 32-bit CPU, called Arca I, followed by Arca II in December 2002. The prestige it gathered from developing those two chips helped the company join China's "863 Plan", which provides policy and financial support for scientific research.