Chinese chip design company Unisoc (Shanghai) Technologies is looking to raise CNY 10 billion (roughly Rs. 12,150 crore) in a new funding round, valuing the company at about CNY 70 billion (roughly Rs. 85,000 crore), three people with knowledge said. People told Reuters about the deal.
Unisoc has approached several state-backed investment funds for this round, the people said, boosting local investors’ interest in China’s domestic chip industry, which is preparing to become more self-reliant in the face of US pressure.
The company aims to reach a short list of investors by mid-March, and close the round by the end of June, on the way to a final domestic listing, one of the people said. All the sources declined to be identified because the information is confidential. The company announced it was raising the funds last week, with its board secretary Jia Shaoxu saying it would use the funds to enhance its technology and product competitiveness, according to its official WeChat account. The amount was not disclosed in this.
The fundraising comes as China steps up efforts to boost its domestic chip sector and Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the country to become more technologically self-reliant.
Washington has imposed a number of export controls to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances, including measures to block China’s access to American chip manufacturing equipment and cutting it off from some chips made anywhere in the world with American equipment. Are.
Chinese companies targeted by the Biden administration include the country’s largest chip maker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), and memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC).
Unisoc is controlled by private equity firm Wise Road Capital, which acquired the company in 2022 after its former parent Tsinghua Unigroup faced bankruptcy.
Based in Shanghai, Unisoc competes against Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung, and its product portfolio includes mobile processors for smartphones, as well as simpler chips for Internet-connected devices.
According to its website, it does business in 133 countries. Although its sales are lower than its rivals, the company’s share of the global market for mobile processors is projected to grow to about 10 percent by 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.
In its February 8 statement, it said its revenue was to reach CNY 14 billion (about Rs 17,000 crore) in 2022. A statement in July 2022 said its revenue was CNY 11.7 billion (about Rs 14,200 crore). In 2021.
In addition to Wise Road, the company’s shareholders also include China’s state-backed investment fund for chips (known as “the Big Fund”), which has a 13 percent stake in the firm, as well as Intel Capital, which has Has 11 percent stake. Percentage stake in the company through investment since 2014.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
