Ceng Yuqun, release the chips!

Zeng Yuqun took action again. Recently, Silanc Technology announced the completion of its D round of financing, led by Contemporary Amperex Technology's industrial investment platform, CATL Capital, with co-investment from Zion Semiconductor. The reporter of "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" noticed that CATL Capital is the only industrial capital company under Contemporary Amperex Technology, serving as the industrial and ecological investment platform for Contemporary Amperex Technology's strategic industries. Apart from Silanc Technology, Contemporary Amperex Technology has also directly invested in Horizon Robotics, Hangzhou Xinmai Semiconductor, and other enterprises. At the same time, through fund investments, they have indirectly invested in many semiconductor companies. Data shows that out of over a hundred investments made by the Fund of Morning Ventures, at least 15 are concentrated in the chip semiconductor field. This time, Contemporary Amperex Technology invested in Silanc Technology, whose founder Wang Donglin was the former director of the Automation Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with participation from Shanghai SOE and market-oriented institutions. As an industrial capital, CATL Capital serves the strategic and ecological interests of Contemporary Amperex Technology. However, as new energy vehicles move towards "smart" and "efficient management" from simple battery technology, chip investment has become a "must-have" choice for Contemporary Amperex Technology. A professional in the energy storage field told the reporter of the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" that besides new energy vehicles, the core competitiveness of the energy storage and smart grid sectors is also further developing towards "intelligence". In CATL's capital layout, energy storage and smart grid are crucial businesses. By 2024, CATL's energy storage battery shipment volume ranked first, with a market share of approximately 35%; regarding smart grid business, CATL led the country's key research and development program "Smart Grid Technology and Equipment" in the key project "Development and Application of 100mwh-level new lithium battery scale energy storage technology." Therefore, as Contemporary Amperex Technology transitions towards "intelligence", chips become essential. Nuo Mantuo Business Strategy Consulting and angel investor Huo Hongyi, in an interview with the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily," said, "Silanc Technology's MaPU architecture meets Contemporary Amperex Technology's needs." Silanc Technology disclosed that their MaPU chip reduces power consumption by 40% and increases computing efficiency by over three times in edge computing scenarios. "This computing efficiency can significantly improve real-time decision-making capabilities in AI inference, intelligent management of energy storage systems, and is particularly suitable for energy management, industrial intelligence, battery predictive maintenance, and other areas. These are areas that Contemporary Amperex Technology's energy storage business needs to improve," Huo Hongyi explained. Regarding this investment, another investor commented that this is a strategic investment by Contemporary Amperex Technology in the semiconductor field. Guo Tao, an angel investor from the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society, believes that this investment signifies that Contemporary Amperex Technology has long-term plans in the chip field, aiming to gradually build its advantages in the chip sector through investing in related companies to better serve its core battery and new energy businesses, promote industrial synergies, and strengthen its voice in the new energy market. Zhi Peiyuan, Deputy Chairman of the Listed Company Investment Professional Committee of the Chinese Investment Association, stated that after strategically positioning itself, Contemporary Amperex Technology can establish an independent and controllable supply chain system, reducing its dependence on external chip suppliers. "Contemporary Amperex Technology's energy storage business and lithium battery products have high demand for power management chips, so precise and efficient chips can optimize battery performance, enhance safety, and extend battery life." Entrepreneurs and angel investors behind Silanc Technology In addition to the needs of Contemporary Amperex Technology, the "founder" and "angel investors" of Silanc Technology also deserve attention. Data from Cailianshe's Chuangtou Tong shows that Silanc Technology originated from the Automation Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and its founder Wang Donglin was the former director of the Institute. In the field of scientific research, Wang Donglin has been deeply engaged for over 30 years, and is a recipient of the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund, having led several national key research and development projects. The MaPU architecture developed by his team is the world's first reconfigurable chip architecture based on the concept of "software-defined hardware," breaking the limitations of traditional ASIC chip functionality and achieving dynamic allocation of hardware resources. This innovative achievement has won the first prize in the Technical Invention category of the Chinese Institute of Electronics. When founding Silanc Technology, Wang Donglin proposed the core concept of "making chips smarter." He led the team from the laboratory to industrialization, completing the transition from technology research and development to product implementation in just three years. The 5G small base station chip launched in 2021 broke the monopoly of foreign companies in this field., achieved localization.Equity penetration shows that Wang Donglin directly holds 19.2074% of the equity and ultimately benefits from 34.2357% of the equity through "Shanghai Langyan Enterprise Management Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership)". The growth of Silicon Tech is also inseparable from the support of angel investors. According to the Science and Technology Board Daily, Silicon Tech, established in 2016, has completed multiple rounds of financing. The earliest angel round financing came from Shanghai Lianhe Investment and Yuanyi Investment. Disclosure shows that the round of investment was led by Shanghai Lianhe Investment, with Yuanyi Investment participating. As the lead investor, Shanghai Lianhe Investment is a wholly-owned state-owned enterprise of Shanghai, focusing on investments in key technology areas and has previously invested in Science and Technology Board star companies such as Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare. Yuanyi Investment, one of the participating investors, has had its partner Zha Hao deeply involved since the angel round and joined the company as Chairman and CEO in 2019, accelerating the landing of technological achievements. The data from Cailian Society's Creation Industry shows that Zha Hao is the legal representative of the company. When recalling the development of chip architecture, Zha Hao once said that there were already five mainstream architectures internationally: CPU, GPU, DSP, FPGA, and ASIC (customized chips). Dr. Wang Donglin, the founder, based on insights into the limitations of ASIC applications, had the idea of creating a new domestic architecture in 2009. "The determination to innovate in architecture on our own is partly to break through the dilemma of key industry technologies being controlled by others and achieve independent core technology in our country; on the other hand, in-depth industry practice shows that developing a new architecture on our own is indeed necessary," Zha Hao said. The chip market is showing a trend of diversification, customization, and high performance According to IC Insights data, global semiconductor sales surged by 25% to $614.7 billion in 2021, and are expected to grow to $873 billion by 2026, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 8%. Zhi Peiyuan, Vice Chairman of the Listed Company Investment Professional Committee of the China Investment Association, told the Science and Technology Board Daily that the growth rate of this industry is very impressive, especially in areas such as 5G communication, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, where the demand for high-performance chips is explosively increasing. However, as the overall demand in the industry grows, the Science and Technology Board Daily learned that the demand in the chip market is showing a trend towards diversification, customization, and high performance. "In particular, in different application scenarios, the differences in chip functions and performance requirements are increasing, and the demand for customized chips is more prominent." A professional in the chip industry said that, for example, smartphones require chips with computational performance, communication capabilities, and AI performance; smart cars require chips for autonomous driving, with requirements for reliability and stability. Zha Hao said that in the communication field, both domestic and foreign manufacturers use a basic chip architecture of "DSP+ASIC". Due to the fixed ASIC accelerators, each product can only be used for one protocol standard. This is a very perplexing and difficult problem in the communication industry where protocol standards are frequently upgraded and there are many non-standard protocols. At the same time, for chip manufacturers, developing communication baseband chips under the "DSP+ASIC" architecture costing billions, due to protocol constraints, can only be used in very limited scenarios, and commercial orders may not even cover the R&D costs, which most manufacturers cannot bear. Zhi Peiyuan believes that chips, as the core components of modern technology, are crucial in several fields. "In terms of diversification, Silicon Tech's UCP chip benefits from the advantages of MaPU architecture, which brings programmable software, can support different protocol standards with just one chip, and can occupy a place in segmented markets; the active moves of Contemporary Amperex Technology in the semiconductor field also demonstrate their repositioning." This article is from "Chuangtou Daily," author: Chen Mei.