AscenPower, also known as Guangdong Xinyueneng Semiconductor, has snapped 1 billion yuan ($142.4 million) in a Series A funding round co-led by Yuecai Fund, the largest policy-driven state-owned investment platform in China’s Guangdong province.
SDIC Venture Capital, the investment management company founded by the state-owned State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), also led the funding round, according to a company release on Wednesday.
The round roped in a number of state-affiliated investors including the likes of Shenzhen Capital Group; Guangzhou Industry Investment Holding Group; Nansha Technology Financial Holding Group; a 5.1-billion-yuan ($726.7 million) fund backed by China’s National Council for Social Security Fund and managed by Shenzhen Capital Group, per the release.
Boyuan Capital, the deeptech investment platform under multinational automotive supplier Bosch group; as well as a number of local investment firms including Fellow Partners and Xichen Capital have also participated in the round.
The proceeds will help AscenPower advance the production of silicon carbide (SiC) chips and expand to overseas markets, per the release.
Founded in 2021, the Guangzhou-headquartered firm engages in the production of automotive-grade SiC chips or SiC chips used in the industrial control systems. Its products — including metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET) and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) — are widely used across the smart grid, electric vehicle and the photovoltaic industries.
Private market investors continued to dabble into early-stage semiconductor opportunities in Q2, with 48% of the deals taking place at Series A or earlier funding stages. The semiconductor industry booked 98 deals that raised almost $1.5 billion, becoming the quarter’s most popular sector by deal count and deal value, according to DealStreetAsia’s proprietary data.
Although semiconductor retained its perch on top, Q2 was a relatively more sluggish time for chipmakers in the country, as the semiconductor deal count hit a four-quarter low, as business support services and auto & parts industries have caught up with bigger-sized deals.
