Sequoia leads $46m Series D for Chinese chip maker Yunyinggu
Yunyinggu, a Chinese manufacturer of integrated circuits used in flat screen displays, has raised RMB300 million ($46 million) in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital China.
Existing investors Qiming Venture Partners, US-headquartered chip manufacturer Qualcomm, and Northern Light Venture Capital re-upped. The company closed its Series C round as recently as April, with RMB200 across two tranches. It was led by Qiming.
Founded in 2012, Shenzhen-based Yunyinggu specializes in next-generation high-resolution display technology. Its core products are chips based on AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) technology, which is used in a specific type of thin-film display for smart watches, mobile devices, laptops, and TVs. It also supplies silicon-based micro-display chips.
Shipments of AMOLED driver chips are expected to reach 10 million units by the end of this year. This would rank Yunyinggu as the domestic market leader with a more than 10% share.
Domestic replacement is the key theme among investors targeting China's semiconductor industry. At present, the main driver chip suppliers for AMOLED panel manufacturers are Taiwan's Novatek and Raydium. Yunyinggu is now the third-largest player. It is the first time a domestic manufacturer has entered the top three in a large-category driver chip segment.
A torrent of semiconductor start-ups and spin-offs have emerged on the back of policy support for the industry. In the first seven months of 2020 alone, there were 38 VC funding rounds, AVCJ Research’s records show. This compares to 12-month totals of 44 and 32 in 2019 and 2018. Between 2012 and 2017, there were fewer than 50.
Other chip manufacturers that focus on flat-screen displays include Eswin Technology Group, which secured a RMB2 billion Series B round in June led by IDG Capital and Legend Capital. It also provides solutions for artificial intelligence data processing and wireless connectivity.
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