Accelerating the Localization of Large Silicon Wafers: Xi'an Yisiwei Materials Completes Series B Funding Round

Recently, Xi'an Yisiwei Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yisiwei Materials”) completed its Series B financing round, raising over 3 billion RMB. The round was co-led by CITIC Securities Investment and Jinshi Investment, with participation from investors including China Internet Investment Fund, Shaanxi Private Equity Fund, Yida Capital, Zhongwei Capital, and China Life Equity. Existing shareholders Xindongneng and Sanxing Capital also made additional investments. Guangyuan Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. The funds raised in this round will be used to expand production capacity.

The integrated circuit industry is a strategic and fundamental sector that underpins economic and social development. Silicon wafers are an indispensable material for chip manufacturing, and 12-inch (300-millimeter) large silicon wafers are currently the core material with the highest demand, the largest cost share, and the lowest domestic production rate in the chip materials market. As of 2020, 95% of this material still relied on imports.

Yiswei Materials is one of the very few domestic semiconductor material companies currently capable of mass-producing 12-inch silicon wafers. To meet the demands of advanced micro- and nano-fabrication processes for integrated circuits, Yiswei Materials has carefully selected cutting-edge equipment and processes, combined with state-of-the-art cleanroom design and rigorous production control, to manufacture 12-inch silicon wafers that are free of dislocations, free of intrinsic defects, ultra-flat, and feature excellent nanoscale surface morphology. The first factory of Yiswei Materials in Xi'an has a designed production capacity of 500,000 wafers per month. Its products include polished wafers and epitaxial wafers, primarily used in logic chips, flash memory chips (3D NAND & Nor Flash), dynamic random-access memory chips (DRAM), image sensors (CIS), and display driver ICs.

Key words: