On October 28th, Hangzhou Micro-Nano Core Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Micro-Nano Core) announced the completion of a financing round exceeding 1 billion yuan C2. The round was led by CIC Investment, with participation from multiple institutions including Hangzhou Capital, Kaitai Capital, Xiaochi Capital, Yantai Caijin, and SDIC Taikang, among others. Several existing shareholders also continued to increase their investments.
Weina Core stated that, including the 1 billion yuan C1 round of financing completed in September, the company has raised over 2 billion yuan in just two months and has cumulatively completed 3 billion yuan in financing within half a year. The valuation for this round of financing has not been disclosed, and the funds will be mainly used for product development and iteration, as well as preparing for mass production in the supply chain.
As financing continues to advance, the first generation of three micro-nano core chips is in the transition phase from wafer fabrication to customer verification.
Weina Core was established in 2021, incubated at the Zhejiang Academy of Advanced Information Technology of Peking University, and mainly focuses on the research and development of integrated memory and computing chips for artificial intelligence inference.
Traditional computing architectures require frequent data transfer between processors and memory, resulting in additional overhead in terms of bandwidth and energy consumption. In-memory computing technology attempts to perform some computations within or near the memory itself, in order to reduce this data transfer.
The micro-nano core adopts a self-developed 3D-CIM architecture, integrating DRAM three-dimensional near-memory computing, SRAM storage-computing integration, and RISC-V heterogeneous computing. The product is targeted at AI smartphones, AI PC and other endpoint devices, as well as cloud-side inference scenarios such as intelligent computing centers.
The company stated that the SRAM integrated computing architecture can achieve 4 to 6 times higher computing power density and 5 to 10 times better energy efficiency compared to traditional von Neumann architectures in previous tape-out tests. Public materials do not provide complete specifications for the reference chips or test conditions.
In terms of product progress, Micro-Nano Core has disclosed that all three chips from the first-generation LP-CIM series and PCIe-CIM series have been sent for manufacturing. It is expected that customer testing will officially begin in early 2027, followed by mass production and supply.
Prior to this, the company has carried out algorithm adaptation and solution development with multiple mobile platforms, ODM manufacturers, and embodied intelligence enterprises, completing multiple rounds of emulator verification. In terms of cloud-side business, the company has advanced the evaluation of computing power solutions and scenario-based POC testing in collaboration with cloud service providers and AI infrastructure manufacturers.
These efforts have laid the foundation for subsequent customer introductions, but emulator verification, scheme testing, and the formal delivery of physical chips for testing are still different stages. At present, the company has not disclosed the names of customers who have received these three chips for testing, the bulk purchase orders, or the scale of revenue generated.
In the field of integrated computing and storage for micro-nano cores, some companies have already entered the stage of mass production and large-scale shipments of products.
Among them, Houmo Intelligence uses its SRAM integrated computing technology to layout related products. In mid-October, it publicly disclosed that the M30 and M50 chips had entered mass production, and M50 had received over 150 product orders. Its first 3D-CIM chip A20 has also been put into production. Zhicun Technology, on the other hand, enters the low-power terminal market with its Flash in-chip computing technology, and its official website reveals that the cumulative shipment of its chips has exceeded ten million units.
On the cloud side, Yizhu Technology has developed an integrated storage and computing chip based on 3D DRAM technology, and related products have completed tape-out. On October 23rd, Yizhu Technology announced that it had completed financing of over 1 billion yuan.
Different enterprises adopt different storage media, product positioning, and commercialization stages. However, based on the progress mentioned above, the competition in integrated storage and computing chips has extended from architectural design and laboratory performance indicators to customer adoption, mass production, delivery, and actual shipment.
In the financing lineup of micro-nano core technologies, there are several enterprises from the industrial chain.
In September, Weina Core disclosed information regarding its C1 round of financing, with industry investors such as Huaqin Technology and Megui Intelligence participating. In their official announcements regarding the financing, both companies expressed their intention to collaborate on scenarios including smart terminals, inference servers, AI smartphones, and AI PC.
Previously, Micro-Nano Core also disclosed that it had received investment support from companies in the storage industry chain such as GigaDevice Technology and Biwin Memory Technologies.
The participation of industrial capital helps companies connect with the storage supply chain and the terminal application ecosystem. However, the information currently disclosed is not sufficient to confirm that the aforementioned companies have placed chip orders with Micro-Nano Core.
For micro-nano core technologies, the financing of 3 billion yuan in half a year provides financial support for chip research and development, supply chain preparation, and customer acquisition. The assessment of commercialization progress still needs to be determined based on product delivery.
According to the company's latest disclosed plan, the beginning of 2027 will be a critical milestone. Whether this financing will enable the company to transition from technology research and development to large-scale sales depends on the actual progress of the three chips being sent for formal customer testing, the initiation of mass production, and the final orders received by the company.
