By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) October 8 -- Inno-Chip (韦豪创芯), the investment arm of Shanghai-based leading chip company in China Will Semiconductor, has invested in a series of regional IC projects to support local IC industry chain and ecosystem, JW Insights learned.

By the end of 2022, the company's investment scale has exceeded RMB20 billion ($2.74 billion), with seven funds and 52 invested projects. Inno-Chip was founded in July 2020 and is supported by China's leading IC company, Will Semiconductor. It is a typical example of the successful operation of the industry funds set up by leading IC companies in China.

A major location for Inno-Chip's invested projects is in Ningbo City in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. The city had developed unique advantages in semiconductor special materials and advanced packaging and testing since 2000, when China's first 6-inch monocrystalline silicon and wafer manufacturing project was set up in the city.

Inno-Chip's investment projects in Ningbo include locally grown start-ups and industry leaders like RongSemi, TRS Micro, Ruijing Semiconductor, SiWave, FHEC, MAXIEYE, and Axera.

Currently, Ningbo has 128 companies related to the IC industry, with an annual output value of nearly RMB50 billion ($6.84 billion), covering the entire industry chain system of materials, design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, etc. It plans to increase the output value of IC and related industries to exceed RMB100 billion ($13.68 billion) by 2025.