Yunhezhi.com, a leading high-end network chip company, recently completed a Pre-A round of financing of over 400 million yuan. This round of financing was led by Ocean Pine Capital, with LFC, Chaos Investment, Yinshengtai Capital, Xiaoshan Development Zone Industrial Fund, China Merchants Securities, Zhongguancun Core Fund, Sharing Investment, and Huagai Capital following the investment. Old shareholders Qianhai Fund of Funds, Living Water Capital, Linxin Capital, Jinshajiang Capital, etc. continued to increase their investment, and Guangyuan Capital continued to serve as the exclusive financial advisor.
With the booming development of cloud computing and the strategic advancement of the national “Eastern Digital and Western Digital” project, the market demand for high-performance network switching chips has increased. As the core component of network equipment such as switches and routers, network chips are the key to the realization of network protocols and network operating systems. Massive data will be exchanged through network chips in the "information highway" composed of data centers, bearer networks, core backbone networks, etc. High bandwidth, high port density, low latency and low power consumption have become the core requirements of network chips.
However, at this stage, the mid-to-high-end network chip market is still monopolized by overseas companies. The domestic market has problems such as the lack of independent network chips, slow development of network architecture, and gaps in customized network operating systems. There is a strong demand for domestic substitution. .
In response to industry development trends, Yunhe Zhiwang focuses on developing world-class high-performance network chips and solutions to help Internet companies, medium and large enterprises and operators build next-generation new networks.
The founding team of Yunhe Zhiwang have all served as global vice presidents and other senior management positions in top network and chip companies in Silicon Valley. They have more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Among them, the technical leaders have led and completed a number of world-class products. Tape-out and mass production of top-level switch chips. Since its establishment at the end of 2020, Yunhe Zhiwang has attracted a large number of high-end talents from well-known domestic and foreign companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Broadcom, Cisco, HiSilicon, ZTE, etc., and has established a complete high-end chip R&D team. Relying on the team's forward-looking understanding of chip architecture design and rich accumulation in network chip research and development, Yunhe Zhiwang customizes flexible and high-speed architecture design solutions for domestic users. While shortening the development cycle, it quickly iterates and comprehensively catches up with international advanced level.
Chen Liguang, CEO and Managing Partner of Ocean Pine Capital, said: "Network switching chips are one of the most important chips in data centers. In the context of the digital era, the rapid growth of data centers has also provided opportunities for the development of network switching chips. Solid foundation. The technical barriers to network switching chips are extremely high. China is in urgent need of network switching chip companies that are competitive in the global market. Yunhe Zhiwang has a domestic first-class R&D and marketing team and will have the opportunity to become the leader in domestic and even global network switching chips. A leading enterprise. As a private equity investment institution with deep roots in the hard technology industry and deep industrial resources, Ocean Pine Capital has rich industrial experience and investment layout in data centers, semiconductors and other related fields, and will continue to support the long-term development of Yunhe Zhiwang in the future. "
Chaos Investment said: "We believe that under the background of national digitalization, data center infrastructure will be the first to benefit. Switches are the core network equipment of data centers and have long been dominated by overseas manufacturers. Domestic cloud service manufacturers urgently need independent and controllable products to break the monopoly. Yunhe Intelligent Network's switch chips are the key to solving the pain points. The Yunhe team has rich experience, deep technical background, and complete team in the field of network chips. Architecture, we believe that the company can use its own advantages and international vision to fill the gaps of domestic manufacturers in the high-end network chip industry."
Chen Yiqi, general manager of Xiaoshan Development Zone Industrial Fund, said: "Yunhezhi Network is Xiaoshan. A high-tech project introduced in the development zone. Yunhe Zhiwang has a world-class founding team. They not only have an international vision, but are also very local. The data center is the core infrastructure of the future digital era. Yunhe Zhiwang has a world-class founding team. Its strong R&D capabilities in the field of switch chips will surely make a huge contribution to China's digital construction.
We look forward to Yunhezhi.com achieving greater development in Xiaoshan Development Zone! ”
Jia Shibo, head of China Securities Investment Strategy Enterprise Team, said: “In the era of big data, the value of data underlying hardware, especially chips, will be revalued, and the chip field directly related to big data will obviously benefit. Judging from the global and Chinese switch and switching chip markets, the switching chips currently on the market are mainly monopolized by Broadcom and Cisco. Although domestic manufacturers are highly involved in my country's switch equipment market, the core chip market for domestic mid- to high-end network equipment is still mainly occupied by overseas companies, and there is a strong demand for domestic substitution. Therefore, the switch core chips that Yunhe Zhiwang focuses on will have a very broad market space. The company's founders have all held important positions in top network and chip companies in Silicon Valley and have rich technology, R&D, management and entrepreneurial experience. We are willing to accompany the excellent team of Yunhe Zhiwang to live up to expectations and successfully break the monopoly of foreign manufacturers in the field of core chips for high-end network equipment and become an important force domestically and even internationally. ”
Ma Jianping, general manager of Zhongguancun Xinchuang Fund and managing partner of Qihang Investment, said: “With the accelerated iteration of technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, and autonomous driving, the amount of data on the network will once again increase exponentially. With the explosive growth of data, as the core technology products of network equipment, network chips and network operating system software will be a huge market with a scale of hundreds of billions of yuan and continued rapid growth. The core team members of Yunhe Zhiwang have world-leading technology research and development capabilities and business innovation experience in the field of network chips and systems. The company is also one of the important layouts of Zhongguancun Xinchuang Fund in the field of data centers. It is hoped that Yunhe Zhiwang will deeply explore the network industry and establish an independent and controllable domestic network ecosystem based on the research and development of domestic independent network chips to improve the overall national network. performance and supply chain security. "
Jiang Xingwei, managing director of Share Investment, said: "Yunhezhi.com is a company that fills the gap in domestic high-end network switching chips. This field is quite difficult and has been dominated by American companies such as Broadcom. Yunhezhi.com The Internet team has a very strong background and can be said to be the only team in the country that can develop domestic chips. We believe that with the construction of data centers, the demand for domestic substitution of domestic high-end network switching chips will become stronger and stronger. Yunhe Zhiwang is expected to break the foreign monopoly in the future and become a unicorn in the field of domestic high-end network switching chips. Share Investment will also fully support enterprise development. "
Huagai Capital said: "The data center is a key track in the digital era, and the switch chip developed by Yunhe Zhiwang is one of the most important logic chips in the data center, and the industry ceiling is extremely high. The core members of the team have worked in leading international companies in the industry for many years, have successful precedents, have an international perspective and understand localization needs. We believe that such an established team can successfully launch self-developed high-end switch chips and contribute to China's digitalization and network ecology. Contribute and have huge potential for future development. ”
Xu Kai, executive president of Qianhai Fund of Funds and Smart Internet Industry Fund, said: “The Yunhe Zhiwang team comes from a well-known family, is renovated to high standards, has both international vision and local practice, and has proven innovation and entrepreneurial capabilities. After the last round of investment, Yunhe's development momentum is encouraging, with team expansion and R&D progress exceeding expectations. We are optimistic that the company will become the top domestic high-end Ethernet switching chip supplier. "
Shi Lian, partner of Living Water Capital RMB Fund, said: "With the further development of cloud computing data volume and practical applications, we look forward to the update and explosion of the underlying network technology. Yunhe Zhiwang, as the most powerful in China, The powerful self-developed switch chip is expected to become the definer of the new generation of basic network standards. "
Xu Yinchuan, executive director of Light Source Capital, said: "In the process of leading to industrial prospects such as the Internet of Everything and the Metaverse, the geometric growth of network data volume is a very certain trend. Better performance, More autonomous and controllable network chips are the core of data circulation.
The core team of Yunhe Zhiwang has a profound industrial background, strong technology, rich experience in R&D and tape-out, and a broad vision of the team, integrating Chinese and Western skills. After the last round of financing, with the addition of more professional talents, the team structure has become more complete. The capabilities of the middle-level team have become increasingly comprehensive, and R&D progress has exceeded expectations. We believe that Yunhe Zhiwang is a very competitive enterprise in this established trend. Light Source Capital is very pleased to continue to help Yunhe Zhiwang complete financing. We look forward to the company's future development into a new giant in the world's high-end network switching chips. "
Cao Tuqiang, founder, chairman and CEO of Yunhezhi.com, said: "Yunhezhi.com has developed rapidly in the past year, and the research and development of high-end network chips has been carried out in an orderly manner as planned, and has been completed one after another. Several important research and development milestones have been achieved, and more than one hundred patents have been applied for. In the Year of the Tiger, Yunhe, with the dual help of capital and talents, will go hand in hand with market development, product planning, technological innovation and other aspects while researching and developing high-end network chips. It is believed that Yunhe Zhiwang’s high-end network chip core technology will accelerate the construction of China’s future network ecosystem. ”