Chinese automotive chip maker Semicore Technology has closed two additional funding tranches, C+ and C++, completing a Series C round that raised roughly 1 billion yuan (about $141 million) over the course of the year, according to Gasgoo, a Chinese automotive industry news outlet.
The latest investors include Huadeng Technology, Shaanxi Investment Fund, Shaanxi Financial Capital and New Era Capital, along with other institutional and industrial capital. In May, Semicore had already secured nearly $100 million in a Series C round led by Suzhou Industrial Investment, with Shaanxi Automobile's Hongde Investment joining as a strategic shareholder.
The consecutive fundraising rounds show that domestic chip companies with mass-production capabilities are still attracting capital even as investment in automotive chips has become more rational, Semicore said.
From cars to robots
Proceeds from the new funding will go toward research and development of core products such as intelligent cockpit chips and vehicle-control chips, as well as increased investment in self-developed embodied AI technology and its commercialization, the company said.
Huadeng Technology's participation reflects interest in Semicore's expansion beyond automotive-grade chips into chips for embodied AI applications, a space the investor sees as offering incremental growth potential.
Semicore's current product lineup includes intelligent cockpit system-on-chips (SoCs), gateway processors, high-performance microcontrollers (MCUs), and the R1, D9 and E3-R chips aimed at robotics and industrial scenarios. In April, the company said it was extending its focus from "automotive intelligence" to "general intelligence," making embodied AI a new business direction.
As of August, Semicore had shipped more than 14 million chips in total. Automotive chips have provided a foundation for scale, but the embodied AI market is still at an early stage, and whether the company can move from "technology migration" to sustained shipments will determine how much growth this cross-scenario expansion can unlock, according to Gasgoo.
The funding news was first reported by Gasgoo's Seeds Discovery column, a platform that connects startups with industry ecosystem partners, investors and local governments.
