State-backed semiconductor fund in China pushed $2 billion investment in a memory chip company
China's state-backed chip investment fund has injected 14.56 billion yuan ($1.99 billion) into a memory chip firm known as Changxin Xinqiao.
According to records, the investment from the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, commonly referred to as the "Big Fund," constitutes 33.15 percent of Changxin Xinqiao's total registered capital. This information was updated on October 26 in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.
Changxin Xinqiao, established in 2021 in Hefei City, Anhui province, is led by its General Manager Zhao Lun, who also holds positions as the chairman and general manager of Changxin Memory Technology, a prominent memory chip company in China, according to a report from Reuters.
Both Changxin Xinqiao and the Big Fund have not yet responded to Reuters' requests for comments.
The Big Fund's recent investment follows a 13 billion yuan injection into Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) earlier this year, marking one of its significant investments. YMTC, the sole player in China's global NAND memory market, has been actively expanding its production capacity and research and development with state subsidies. However, it was blacklisted by the United States in 2022 due to concerns about potential technology diversion to Huawei Technologies.
Changxin Xinqiao's capital increase, with the support of the Big Fund, is part of a broader expansion of registered capital, involving existing investors Changxin Xinan and Hefei Xinyi contributing 10.4 billion yuan and 14 billion yuan, respectively. Hefei Xinyi is affiliated with investment platforms associated with the state asset regulator in Anhui province, as indicated in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.
The Big Fund was initiated in 2014 to accelerate China's semiconductor industry, which is striving to catch up with the likes of the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea. The fund raised 138.7 billion yuan for its first fund and 204 billion yuan for its second. Recently, it has announced its intention to raise approximately $40 billion in another round of funding.
However, the fund has faced a corruption scandal that led to an investigation into its former head last year.
(As of this writing, $1 = 7.3162 Chinese yuan renminbi)
