YMTC-backed fund invests in Chinese chipmaker SOI Micro

A venture capital fund backed by Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC), China’s top producer of NAND flash memory, has taken a stake in domestic semiconductor manufacturer SOI Micro, adding a high-profile investor to the country’s push for an alternative chipmaking ecosystem.

Led by a prominent figure in China’s semiconductor industry, SOI Micro is focused on developing fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology – a low-power chipmaking technology that offers a complementary route to mainstream processes.

SOI Micro completed a shareholder change on Thursday, according to a recent update on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. The company’s registered capital increased to 2.53 billion yuan (US$375 million) from 2.39 billion yuan, with the Wuhan-based Changcun Industry Investment Fund appearing as a new shareholder.

The size of Changcun’s investment and its specific stake were not disclosed. SOI Micro did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The Changcun Industry Investment Fund was established in 2023 by YMTC alongside the Hubei Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, a state-backed vehicle in Wuhan. While its investment mandate has focused heavily on memory-chip supply-chain players, this latest move extends its reach into specialised logic manufacturing.

SOI Micro, founded in Guangzhou in 2022, is led by Ye Tianchun, a veteran semiconductor technologist who previously headed the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microelectronics. Ye also served as chief technologist for China’s high-profile “02” project, a major state initiative to advance domestic chipmaking equipment and fabrication capabilities.