Chinese auto chipmaker SemiDrive Technology (芯驰科技) has completed its Series B+ round of financing of nearly RMB1 billion ($138.8 million) to accelerate mass production and application, reported Yicai Global on November 28.

Founded in 2018, SemiDrive is based in Nanjing of eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, focusing on high-performance automotive chips. They mainly cover chips for smart cockpit, smart driving, gateway, and microcontroller units (MCU).

SAIC Jinshi Innovation Industry Fund (上汽金石创新产业基金), an affiliate of the state-owned carmaker SAIC, was the lead investor but others, including Citic Securities (中信证券), also joined the round, said SemiDrive recently.

The company will use the funds to develop core technologies, upgrade its automotive-grade chips, hike mass production and service capacities, and speed up commercial adoption, it added.

So far, SemiDrive has already released several products, including the smart cockpit chip X9, smart driving chip V9, central gateway chip G9, and high-performance MCU E3. It has more than 260 clients, covering about 90 percent automakers, either Chinese or foreign carmakers or new energy vehicle startups.

Meanwhile, the company has finished five rounds of financing with investors including Matrix Partners China, Sequoia Capital China, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, as well as battery giant CATL, according to Yicai Global.