Hangzhou, China-February 25, 2019–
Hangzhou, China-February 25, 2019–NationalChip officially announced RMB 150 million B round financing. This round of financing is led by the Venture Capital Guidance Fund of CITIC and Sinovation Ventures.
Founded in 2001, NationalChip has been a leading digital TV and AI chip design company in China for more than ten years. Its self-developed chip products have won many awards of innovation science and technology and the recognition of all parties in the industry over the years, and have shipped more than 300 million products. The products have been sold well all over the world, so that chip design companies with deep accumulation of technology and excellent market performance can truly achieve.
In the new era of AI, NationalChip has taken the lead in exploring and developing AI chips. We have developed a neural network processor gxNPU, designed multi-core and heterogeneous AI+IoT chips, and released the first Internet of Things AI chip GX8010 and its derivative GX8008 in 2017. With the characteristics of low power consumption, high performance and high integration, the chip has been highly recognized and deeply cooperated by many algorithms and Internet companies. It has been produced and landed in many scenarios such as intelligent speakers, intelligent household appliances, voice TV, children's robots, and serves Rokid, outdoor inquiry, 360, Tokyo Fish Zone, Science and Technology Daily News. Fly, Spirit, Skyworth, TCL and other industry customers.
At present, the overall domestic environment is not very good, just in the cold winter of capital, the core of the country to obtain this round of financing is attracting more attention. After the completion of this round of financing, NationalChip will further strengthen its investment in core technology fields such as chips, software and algorithms, accelerate the research and development of new products, and launch more innovative and practical products for the industry. Huang Zhijie, CEO of NationalChip, said: "As early as a few years ago, NationalChip had realized that AI would bring revolutionary development opportunities to various application fields. It began to make strategic deployment of AI technology, and launched AI chips for the Internet of Things market, enabling in-depth learning ability of Internet of Things products, guaranteeing privacy security and upgrading. This round B financing, which is led by the Venture Capital Guidance Fund of CITIC and participated by Sinovation Ventures, is the full recognition and support of NationalChip's deep cultivation of AI chips in the Internet of Things from the national strategic level and market development space.
TMT team of the Venture Capital Guidance Fund of CITIC., the leading investor of this round, said: "AI is a strategic and forward-looking emerging industry supported by China. AI chip is the foundation of AI application and is at the core of the industry chain. Hangzhou NationalChip made contributions to national digital broadcasting in the early stage and has been deeply engaged in AI in recent years." Chip research and development, the products are innovative and practical, and have great market potential, which will promote the Internet of Things industry to accelerate artificial intelligence. In this round of financing, CIC led the investment of NationalChip with its National Venture Capital Guidance Fund for Emerging Industries. We hope that with the help of capital, we can support NationalChip to develop its core competitiveness, establish and expand the influence of domestic brands in the field of AI chips, and promote the healthy and rapid development of AI industry in China.
Fang Yimin, partner of Sinovation Ventures, said: "The market opportunities brought by the combination of AI and IoT will be enormous. As one of the earliest companies to launch AI chips for the Internet of Things, NationalChip has strong chip design and marketing capabilities, not only has insight into the market opportunities, but also successfully supports customer project batches. Quantitative production, truly achieve the combination of science and technology and market. The field of artificial intelligence has always been the key investment direction of innovative workshops. I believe that through this investment project financed by NationalChip B round, we can promote both sides to create and respond to more opportunities in the field of artificial intelligence.
About NationalChip:
NationalChip is located on the beautiful side of West Lake, Hangzhou, a city of "innovation, vitality, linkage and inclusiveness". The company focuses on chip design and system solution development in the fields of digital TV, home multimedia and artificial intelligence. The company has developed digital TV chip products all over the world, and is one of the world's leading set-top box chip suppliers. At the same time, the company is deeply engaged in the field of artificial intelligence, taking the lead in introducing artificial intelligence chips for the Internet of Things, with core technologies such as self-developed neural network processors, instruction sets and compilers.
About SDIC UNITY CAPITIAL:
SDIC UNITY CAPITIAL is a professional guidance fund and parent fund management platform of SDIC Group, focusing on forward-looking, strategic emerging industry equity investment and parent fund and government-led fund management.
About Sinovation Ventures:
Sinovation Ventures was founded by Dr. Kaifu Lee in September, 2009. As a first-class venture investment institution in China, Sinovation Ventures is deeply engaged in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, consumption upgrading, education, cultural entertainment, B2B & enterprise service and upgrading, and constantly explores and innovates, devotes itself to creating a platform for entrepreneurship, financial support and post-investment and all-round service platform for ecological investment such as services.
