China VCs back semiconductor start-up InventChip

State-backed Shanghai Guofang Private Equity Fund took the lead with support from Shenzhen Guozhong Venture Capital, Lingang New Area Fund, Gold Stone Investment, Eastern Bell Capital, and Long Capital. Existing investors Sunic Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, and GF Xinde re-upped.

Silicon carbide is an increasingly attractive replacement for silicon in semiconductor manufacturing because it can endure much higher temperatures and increases energy efficiency while cutting down the size of the chip. However, it only has a market share of about 5% in power devices – such as device chargers – suggesting significant growth potential.

InventChip has gradually transformed from a fabless manufacturer to an integrated device manufacturer since its inception in 2017. In 2022, the company established a silicon carbide fabrication line compliant to automotive industry standards. It has since begun mass production of several products used in electric vehicles (EVs).

EVs currently represent the main use case for silicon carbide semiconductors, especially in inverters and chargers. Sales new-energy vehicles in China grew more than 90% year-on-year to 26.8m units in 2022. This came despite an overall market downturn.

InventChip will use the Series B proceeds for an expansion of its factory and investment in R&D.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• Lightspeed Venture Partners
• Eastern Bell Venture Capital
• semiconductor
• automobiles
• Electric Vehicles