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Author | Lin Qingqing

Editor | Yuan Silai

36Kr learned that recently, Yanhuang Guoxin, a manufacturer of integrated circuit components in the aerospace and military fields, completed a nearly 100 million yuan B round of financing, jointly invested by Jiuzhi Capital and the Industrial Investment Fund established by Linping District, Hangzhou. In the past two years, Yanhuang Guoxin has successively completed rounds A, A+, and A++ of financing, with a total financing of nearly 200 million yuan. Previous investors include Meihua Venture Capital, Shanda Investment, etc.

"Yanhuang Guoxin" originated from Peking University in 2016. It is a Chinese IC unicorn/national-level specialized "little giant" enterprise focusing on high-reliability, high-performance, and self-controllable power management chips. It is centered in Beijing and has successively established three branch centers in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing areas. The core team consists of the chief scientist of the National (973) Program, the winner of the first prize of the Ministry of Education's Science and Technology Progress Award, the State Council's specially appointed experts, outstanding alumni of Peking University, Tsinghua University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and international senior engineers from TI and ADI, with nearly 20 years of industrialization experience in the entire industry chain and process in the semiconductor field.

As an important part of integrated circuits, analog chips play an indispensable role in electronic systems. According to different functions and application fields, analog chips can be divided into multiple categories, of which the two most important categories are power management chips and signal chain chips. Power management chips are the power supply heart of all electronic devices, responsible for the conversion, distribution, detection and other control functions of the power required by electronic devices. The main product types on the market include AC/DC power converters, DC/DC power converters, low-dropout linear regulators (LDO), battery management chips, driver chips, etc.

It can be said that as long as there is an application scenario for power supply, power management is required. Therefore, the downstream application scenarios of power management chips are very extensive, covering many fields such as industrial control, automotive electronics, network equipment, consumer electronics, mobile communications, smart home appliances, smart security, etc. According to Frost & Sullivan, China's power management chips will continue to grow, with a growth rate of 7.53% from 2021 to 2026, and a market size of 128.44 billion yuan in 2026.

However, the development of the domestic power management chip industry still faces certain difficulties: First, overseas manufacturers are still the main players in the market, occupying more than 80% of the market share; second, most domestic companies started late, are small in scale, and focus on specific segments, accounting for less than 20% of the market; third, there is serious "involution" among manufacturers and products are homogenized; fourth, there is a large gap in chip talent.

Unlike most chip manufacturers who choose to enter the largest consumer market and then turn to military-grade and other higher-demand product lines, Guo Hu, founder of Yanhuang Guoxin, said: "We chose a different path from the beginning. The first customer was in the aerospace field. We designed power management chips for satellites, which affected our subsequent development path. If we roughly divide the products, they can be divided into aerospace grade, military grade, automotive grade, industrial grade and consumer grade. We started with aerospace grade, so our pace will be relatively slow at the beginning."

Precisely because of its relatively "from difficult to easy" development path, Yanhuang Guoxin did not suffer a strong impact in the downward environment of the semiconductor cycle last year, and chose to expand its automotive/industrial product lines against the trend.

According to the financial data of 2023, the products of "Yanhuang Guoxin" mainly focus on special fields, including military, aerospace and future nuclear industry fields. Such scenarios will have higher requirements and precision for chips. Guo Hu told 36Kr, "The main focus of military products is reliability, such as time, mechanical stress, environmental stress and electrical performance, which have an important impact on the stability and reliability of the product; while civilian products pay more attention to reducing costs and pursuing high quality and low price. However, in different environments, such as high temperature, saline-alkali environment, harsh environment, etc., the reliability and stability of power management chips need to be considered."

Based on this, Yanhuang Guoxin takes radiation-resistant technology and high-performance, high-reliability power management chip engineering technology as its main technical route, and has gradually built four major power management chip product lines covering aerospace, military, automotive, and consumer grades, and has developed hundreds of products. The product line has been expanded to a complete high-reliability product system, which can be widely used in satellites, radars, equipment, automobiles, power grids, and other fields. 36Kr has previously reported in detail.

Some of the aerospace-grade and general military-grade products that have been mass-produced by "Yanhuang Guoxin" are displayed

36Kr learned that "Yanhuang Guoxin" has been listed on the highest level of the "Specialized and New" special board of the Beijing Equity Exchange Center - the incubation layer on May 31, 2024. The Beijing Stock Exchange is gradually providing "Yanhuang Guoxin" with "one-to-one" listing diagnosis, exchange visits and exchanges and other services, and discussing green channel services for listing and exploring the establishment of a fast channel for transfer.

In the future, Guo Hu said, "The power management chip industry has a large space for stock replacement, and there is still room for growth in the field of mid-to-high-end products. At the same time, emerging fields such as low-altitude economy, Internet of Things, new energy vehicles, etc., have created multiple segmented blue ocean markets. In addition, due to the development of leading analog chip companies, the industry may see a trend of mergers and acquisitions, such as the Matthew effect. Large companies will acquire more small teams, and a '20+100' pattern may be formed: that is, more than 20 analog chip companies with a value of RMB 100 billion and about 100 analog chip companies with a value of tens of billions or hundreds of billions. China's self-sufficiency and domestic substitution of power management chips require more companies to support this matter, and there is still a long way to go."

Investor’s view:

Wu Shichun, founding partner of Meihua Venture Capital, said: When talking about "Yanhuang Guoxin", we have to mention that this is an outstanding team that works silently behind the country's heavy equipment and is committed to the research and development of "China Core". In recent years, my country's aerospace industry and military industry have developed rapidly, from rockets soaring into the sky to the precise operation of satellites, to the rapid iteration and large-scale production of cutting-edge weapons such as drones and cruise missiles. Behind each achievement, the key support of high-end power management chips is indispensable. However, this field has long faced technological blockades and restrictions from Western countries, becoming a bottleneck restricting the independent development of my country's science and technology. The "Yanhuang Guoxin" team, with its deep technical accumulation and unremitting spirit of struggle, has not only successfully broken this technical barrier, but also won wide recognition in the market with more affordable prices and excellent service quality. Since the investment, "Yanhuang Guoxin" has continued to show amazing growth potential and innovation capabilities under the outstanding leadership of Guo Hu. The company's performance has soared year by year, with order volumes hitting new highs. It has also won the national honor of "Little Giant with Specialization, Specialization and Innovation", which fully demonstrates its industry-leading position and strong development momentum.

Jiuzhi Capital said: Yanhuang Guoxin has been deeply engaged in high-performance self-controllable power management chips. Its products are widely used in high-demand fields such as aerospace, automobiles, and industry, filling many domestic gaps, and some technologies are leading in China. With the leap of 5G, Internet of Things, new energy, and AI technology, the demand for power management chips has surged. Yanhuang Guoxin is accelerating its development with its deep technical background and continuous innovation. The team members bring together talents from top universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as elites from international IC manufacturers. They have rich experience in the entire industry chain, laying a solid foundation for the company's continuous innovation and industrialization. With a clear vision and strategic planning, Yanhuang Guoxin will maintain a high-speed development trend and lead the industry forward.