Hangzhou, China – 19th October 2020 – NationalChip announced today the completion of Round C Financing with tens of millions of US dollars. Financing is led by CITIC Securities and followed by Gaorong Capital, Haier Capital and Glory Ventures. Institutional investors in Round A Financing have also followed and increased investment in this round of financing.

Since company establishment in 2001, NationalChip has become one of the world’s leading set-top box chip suppliers with accumulated shipment approaching 400Mpcs globally. In 2019, NationalChip shipped over 35Mpcs STB chips and achieved top market share position in several market segments.

Meanwhile, based on strenuous cultivation in AI field since 2016, NationalChip has become a leading AIoT chip supplier in China. In 2017, NationalChip launched industry’s first AIoT chip, GX8010, which integrates proprietary gxNPU neural processor for accelerated processing of neural operations. There is also GX8008 smart voice chip which realizes fully China homebred CPU+NPU architecture for smart home and automotive applications. It supports front-end voice processing, voice activation and offline voice command etc.

In 2020, NationalChip launched ultra-low power AIoT chip, GX8002, achieving industry’s lowest 70uw power consumption. It integrates second generation gxNPU V200 and hardware VAD (voice activity detection) module. Based on its ultra-low power operation, GX8002 can be widely adopted by wearable applications such as TWS earphones, smart watches, smart glasses etc.

NationalChip AIoT solutions empower “Human-Automotive-Home” full scenario applications such as smart speaker, smart automotive, smart home appliance, smart wearables etc. By virtue of low power consumption, high performance, high integration features, NationalChip’s AIoT chips have won high level of recognition among top tier algorithm partners and companies such as Alibaba, JD, Baidu, 360, Rokid, Mobvoi, iFlytek, SoundAI, AISpeech, Skyworth, TCL, Haier etc.

Funds raised in this round of financing will further reinforce NationalChip’s persistent efforts in R&D innovation and contribute to new business development. “NationalChip has strong expertise in audio-visual technology that brings core competitiveness with our partners to enable AI empowerment for the convergence of human, home, automotive application scenarios. In the era of new infrastructure, NationalChip will continuously devote to chip development and deliver competitive solutions,” said Vincent Huang, CEO of NationalChip. “In this round of financing, the participation from CITIC Securities, Gaorong Capital, Haier Capital and Glory Ventures proves solid recognition and support to NationalChip’s company strength and market prospect.”

“NationalChip has achieved outstanding results in digital STB market and brought innovation to AI field. Its core competitiveness in cost performance chip solutions and one-stop service and support is the key to explore the extensive market potential,” said Hao Fang, General Manager and Director of CITIC Securities. “CITIC Securities leads this round of financing to further enhance competitiveness and market presence of NationalChip in IC industry.”

“In the trend of intelligent IoT products, smart voice technology is regarded as the key entry point of interactivity and high cost performance chips and modules are indispensable in mass market deployment. NationalChip’s strong design experience and proven innovation capability are leading in the industry,” said project leader of Gaorong Capital. “We look forward to NationalChip continuing to provide advanced solutions surrounding human, home, automotive applications and expedite the beautiful IoT life for people.”

“NationalChip has captured the opportunity of intelligent IoT market and developed smart voice solution as entry point to quickly realize from chip to application to market development and deployment cycles,” said Lu Liu, Managing Director of Haier Capital. “Haier Capital expects this round of financing will assist NationalChip in developing more advanced AI products and solutions to IoT industry that brings win-win situation to NationalChip’s management, manufacturers and investors.”

“AIoT market is borderless and continuously expanding that offers enormous market opportunity in which NationalChip can explore by means of its continuous product innovation and technology development,” said Zongyi Bai, Founding Partner of Glory Ventures. “Glory Ventures believes through this round of financing, NationalChip will realize new breakthroughs in technology and product that drive and expedite intelligence process of IoT industry.”

About NationalChip

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Hangzhou, NationalChip focuses on IC design and system solution development in the fields of digital television, home multimedia as well as artificial intelligence for IoT.

About CITIC Securities

Established in April 2012, with ¥14B yuan registered capital, CITIC Securities is the top securities company in China.

About Gaorong Capital

Gaorong Capital is one of the most active VC institutions in China, dedicated in identifying the leading founders and collaborating with them to achieve long-term value. Founded in January 2014, Gaorong Capital focuses on early to growth stage investment in innovation and entrepreneurship for new consumer, new technology fields.

About Haier Capital

Founded in 2010, Haier Capital is the investment platform of Haier Financial Holdings. Current business involves venture investment, private equity investment, industry merger and acquisition, government guidance fund etc. Haier Capital adheres to the philosophy of cultivating industry investment and ecosystem and focuses on three areas on intelligent technology, medical treatment and health, innovative consumer. It is positioned as industry full ecosystem investment joint platform and achieves win-win situation though industry full ecosystem investment scheme and linkup of various resources.

About Glory Ventures

Glory Ventures is a leading deep-tech VC firm active in China and Israel, focuses on the field of new generation information technologies including data sensing, transmission, storage, computing and vertical industry applications.