ASR Microelectronic (hereinafter referred to as ASR) has announced that it has completed the $100 million Series B round of financing led by IDG Capital and Shenzhen Ventures Wanrong Red Earth Fund. Previously, ASR has obtained a deep venture capital in 2017. Rongfang Fund and Alibaba have invested more than US$100 million. The company has raised more than US$300 million in total. In 2016, it won the Pre-A round of financing from Walden International, Newstar Newstar and iNNODAC (Hong Kong). The specific amount was not disclosed. .
Founded in 2015, ASR is a baseband IC design company specializing in mobile communication terminals, Internet of Things and other consumer electronic chips. The product line covers multi-standard communication standards including 2G, 3G and 4G. Data and smartphones are mainly two major categories.
It is understood that ASR has acquired the mobile communication department of South Korea Alphean, Jiangsu Smart IC, Marvell, and ASR has obtained Marvell mobile communication baseband IP, some product lines and mature baseband R&D team.
In fact, the name of ASR also reflects its acquisition route:
A stands for Alphean, a Korean agreement stack company.
S stands for Smart IC, which is Augusta.
R represents the former CEO of RDA, which is the founder and CEO of Jiejie Technology. Dai Baojia is currently in this company.
Dai Baojia believes that although the growth rate of the smartphone market has continued to slow down this year, mobile phones are still the largest market for baseband chips. In addition, with the rise of 5G standards and the rise of artificial intelligence technology, intelligence as the largest application platform Mobile phones still have development possibilities.
In terms of Internet of Things technology, ASR has been recognized by terminal manufacturers in popular developments including Lora, NB-IoT, eMTC, and Thin Modem.
According to reports, while the global semiconductor market is slowing down, the Chinese semiconductor market has risen against the market. According to data released by the Global Semiconductor Association on July 2, global semiconductor sales reached US$38.7 billion in May this year. The monthly growth rate exceeded 20%. Among them, China's semiconductor sales growth rate reached 28.5 %. In addition, China's semiconductor industry has also been supported by relevant national policies.
China is the world's largest smartphone market and the largest Internet of Things market. Backed by these two huge markets, ASR can provide customers with more local advantages through its own technical strength through its understanding of the Chinese market. And localization support.
Regarding this investment, IDG Capital Partner Li Weijun said that as early as 10 years ago, IDG Capital began to lay out the semiconductor field in the world.
In terms of IC design, it invested in analog circuit interface chip company Analogix, communication chip company RDA (now merged with Spreadtrum to Ziguang Zhanrui), and blockchain ASIC chip company Bitmain;
In terms of semiconductor chips, we invested in meter metering chips and power carrier chip company Vango, Bluetooth wireless speaker chip design developer BES Technologies, integrated circuit IP licensing company Verisilicon and TV Set-top box integrated chip company, Amtronic, etc.
In terms of IC equipment, it invested in Micro-Semiconductor (AMEC), a micro-processing high-end equipment for global semiconductor manufacturers and other emerging high-tech industries. IDG Capital has participated in two rounds of AMEC investment in the last two years.
IDG Capital stated that it will continue to invest in potential semiconductor companies worldwide, help companies grow rapidly, and build global semiconductor companies in conjunction with mergers and acquisitions.
In fact, as early as the 'Zhongxing Patent Penalty' incident, ASR, Guoke Micro and other companies began to develop chip patent R&D business. These manufacturers will also occupy a large market share for MediaTek, Spreadtrum and Qualcomm. The manufacturer has a threat. In response, Qualcomm chose to connect with Datang, and Jianguang set up a new company to focus on low-end chips.
Although Qualcomm holds a lot of patents in the field of mobile phone Soc, it is also a win-win cooperation. Qualcomm can open up the market, and domestic partners can also obtain technical support from Qualcomm, which is conducive to the technological upgrading of relevant domestic industries.