China chip designer Senasic raises $70m

Geely Capital, GAC Capital, and Guoqi Investment, a fund under National Innovation Center of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles, also participated. Chendao Capital re-upped, according to a statement.

Founded in 2015, Senasic focuses on sensor chips used in cars. The chips can monitor various parameters of engines, such as temperature, pressure, and airflow, as well as tire pressure. They can also be used in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to detect and analyze objects around the car.

Senasic claims to have delivered tens of millions of units to date. The company aims to expand into energy storage and other industrial usages.

It coincides with some uncertainty in China's chip industry, with Oppo, one of the largest smart phone manufacturers globally, having dismissed its chip design unit earlier this year. However, investors see long-term positives in the development, noting it could create opportunities for independent start-ups.

Private equity deployment in China's semiconductor space rose from USD 7.2bn in 2020 to USD 16.2bn in 2021 before slipping to USD 11.3bn last year. About USD 2bn has been put to work in 2023 to date, according to AVCJ Research. More than 5,700 chip companies went out of business in 2022, a 70% increase from the previous year.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• semiconductor
• Geely
• GAC