Chinese chip maker secures $22m Series B

The company provides components for multimedia equipment and artificial intelligence-powered (AI) products as well as for digital TVs. It will use the fresh funding to enhance R&D on chip design and manufacturing as well as to develop new software.

National Chip was founded in 2001 by a group of graduates from the University of Zhejiang's college of information science and electronic engineering. It now has 300 employees, 80% of whom work on chip development. The company claims to have sold 300 million chips since inception.

National Chip's current focus is internet of things (IoT) devices. Last year, the company rolled out its first AI chip for IoT applications and it is now being used in products such as smart speakers and robots for children. Customers include home robotics developer Rokid, computer security software specialist Qihoo 360, TV producer TCL and voice recognition software developer iFlytek.

China is investing heavily in chipmaking facilities and talent with a view to becoming self-sufficient in semiconductors. Already the world's leading consumer in this area, the country expects to strong growth in demand as more AI devices enter the market. Deloitte predicts that semiconductor manufacturing revenues in China will reach $110 billion in 2019, up 25% year-on-year.

National Chip raised the first round of funding from Tiantu Capital and Haibang Venture in 2010. Eight years later, it received another round from GreenRiver Capital, according to AVCJ research.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Industrials
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• Sinovation Ventures
• TMT
• SDIC Fund Management
• manufacturing