China networking chip specialist Clounix raises $63m

The angel round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, joined by Chinese information technology Inspur Group. The pre-Series A was led by China Internet Investment Fund with participation from Qianhai FoF, Sunic Capital, Shanghai Lingang SC-Innovation Investment Management, Shanghai Pudong Kechuang Group, GoldenSand Capital, and Ondine Capital.

Established in November 2020, Clounix focuses on high-performance network chips to help internet companies, medium and large-sized enterprises, and operators build next-generation networks. Proceeds will go towards recruitment, product R&D, and chip commercialization.

The company was founded by Tuqiang Cao, formerly chief technology officer for Greater China at Cisco. His four co-founders previously held senior management positions of top Silicon Valley network chip companies. Clounix claims to have built a complete chip R&D team, drawing on talent from Intel, Microsoft, Broadcom, Cisco, HiSilicon, ZTE Corporation.

Domestic substitution is an important theme in China's chip space. At present, mid to high-end network equipment is still dominated by overseas companies.

To meet the specific needs of local customers, Clounix has built a flexible and high-speed design architecture, greatly shortening the development cycle. In addition, the company has created open-source software to integrate with chips, promoting overall network solutions.

Chip design is popular among PE and VC investors targeting China's semiconductor industry, largely because it has the highest technology content of all industry segments and is the least capital intensive. Investment has been highly concentrated in GPU chips, often referred to as artificial intelligence (AI) chips or computing chips. The likes of Metax, Iluvatar CoreX, Moore Threads, Biren Technology, and Enflame Technology have all received funding.

However, this year chip companies in a wider variety of segments, such as networking chips and automotive chips, have also attracted private equity capital.

Lighthouse Capital served as the financial advisor for Clounix's new funding rounds.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Technology
• China
• semiconductor
• Qiming Venture Partners
• Qianhai FoF