By Miranda Li

Chinese startup chip company Zhuhai iSmartWare Technology Co., Ltd. (智融科技) has gained a firm foothold in the fast charge market with its digital- analogy mixed design strength. The company is preparing to go IPO, JW Insights learned in an interview with the company.

iSmartWare Technology is based in Zhuhai in southern China’s Guangdong Province. Li Xin, its founder, and CEO  pointed to a fast-growing fast charge market in the next 3-5 years and his company’s vision is to gradually expand its business from the consumer electronics market to industrial electronics and even more high-end automotive electronics market.

Established in 2014, iSmartWare Technology has entered a new phase: it completed nearly RMB100 million ($15.7 million) of financing last year and is receiving IPO counseling on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Huang Xinjian, iSmartWare’s marketing director, said that there was a solid foundation of rapid growth in the fast-charge market in the vast consumer electronics accessories market serving mobile phones and computers. He listed various factors behind this trend. 

First of all, the new technologies and materials will drive the boom and iteration of the fast charge market. 

Take the latest version of the fast charge protocol  – USB Power Delivery (USB PD) Revision 3.1 –  for example. Its newly defined 48V voltage gear enables the adoption of PD fast charge in the applications within dozen strings of batteries in the traditional industrial market, including markets in electric tools, motorcycles, and cleaning robots, Huang said.

The third-generation semiconductors also contribute to the change.  GaN and SiC are on the rise, and their production yield is steadily climbing. The newly developed gallium nitride original adapters as standard are bound to lead a new wave of gallium nitride fast charge trend.

Secondly, China is making its fast charge standard, the integrated fast-charge UFCS, towards a greener and environmentally friendly fast-charge protocol, meaning that domestic manufacturers can root in the new integrated fast-charge platform for product development in the next few years;

Third, users have higher requirements and demands for the quick charge of their consumer electronics products. Even the public sharing-battery market is gradually adopting fast-charge technologies.

Huang said that there is a need to build a complete series of fast charge chips, from wired to wireless, and from all-purpose to specialized for different market segments such as mobile power supply and car charging, and with versatile protocols and power management.

The fast charge protocol has not been unified at present. Huang explained that various original chargers that support private protocols do not conform to carbon neutrality and green environmental protection. “In the future, we need to make a standardized protocol for mobile phones, laptops, and household appliances,” he added. There will be the first mobile phone with integrated fast charging to be released in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

While improving the reliability and stability of its products, Huang said that iSmartWare will increase R & D investment and explore new technologies.