Source: www.52audio.com Author: www.52audio.com
Recently, Thinkplus Semiconductor announced that it would officially accept the series B financing of nearly RMB 100 million invested exclusively by Hui Capital, which will be mainly used for the company's new product development and the recruitment of new team members. It aims to improve the product line, shift from consumer electronics to industry, automobile electronics and other industries, and provide complete battery management solutions for the market in the above fields.
Founded in 2011, Thinkplus Semiconductor has been focusing on the design of POWER+ power management system chip for battery applications and is dedicated to providing cutting-edge battery management system-level chip solutions for smart wearables, consumer electronics, industry, energy storage system, new energy vehicles, etc. The product portfolio includes power bank management SoC, TWS earbuds power management chips, Li-ion battery charging chips, power management integrated circuits (PMIC), wireless charging chips, etc.
In 2022, it is very hard for the entire semiconductor industry as the declining consumer electronics industry affected the investment enthusiasm of the upstream semiconductor industry. It brings great challenges to IC OEMs and the situation is very severe. The manifest reasons are high procurement costs, lower market demand than expected, declining sales performance, falling product prices, overstocking of products and sluggish customer demand. In this context, Thinkplus Semiconductor rose to the challenge and received continued investment from investment companies.
From 2020 to 2023, Thinkplus Semiconductor continues to forge ahead
According to the analysis results of www.52audio.com, the market share of TWS earbuds battery management chips of Thinkplus Semiconductor ranked top 3, with a total shipment volume of more than 700 million pieces, and the chips have been adopted in the products of well-known brands at home and abroad, such as Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, OnePlus, realme, Transsion, Meizu, 1MORE, Baidu, NetEase, EDIFIER, JBL, Harman, Lenovo, etc.
In 2022, according to incomplete statistics, power management chips of Thinkplus Semiconductor were embedded in 32 aduio products of 21 major brands, including well-known brands such as OPPO, vivo, realme, OnePlus, Philips, EDIFIER, Soundcore, SOAIY, Baseus, Lenovo, Denon, etc.
In 2021, the TWS earbuds power management chips of Thinkplus Semiconductor has ranked first in the market share with accumulated shipment volume of more than 700 million pieces. Power management chips of Thinkplus Semiconductor were embedded in 46 audio products of 31 major brands, including well-known brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, realme, Transsion, Meizu, 1MORE, Baidu, NetEase, EDIFIER, JBL, Harman, and Lenovo, serving hundreds of millions of consumers globally.
In 2020, Thinkplus Semiconductor successfully became the IC product supplier of famous brands such as OPPO, Xiaomi, Baidu, 1MORE, 233621, Transsion, etc., and its power management chips were embedded in 15 audio products of such brands.
From the previous achievements, we can see that is why Thinkplus Semiconductor can still become an industry benchmark company recognized by the investment companies in the cold winter of the market.
With regard to the goal of 2023, Dong Guanbin, General Manager of Thinkplus Semiconductor said, "IC design company should increase its R&D investment during the downturn, so as to bring a complete variety of high-quality products to the market after the economic recovery. The industry cycle has been changing, with peaks and valleys, but the harder the industry is, the more you need to invest, and it shall continue to increase capital investment when the industry is booming, so as to meet the arrival of the next cycle with confidence. This is the development strategy of IC design company in my opinion. The goal in 2023 is to complete the plan gradually, develop key technologies and core products, and set achievable goals. We have to develop new markets, new customers every year. As our existing customers are progressing, we have to keep up with them."
Overview of annual application cases of Thinkplus Semiconductor:
2020 ｜ 15 audio products embedding TWS cradle power management solution of Thinkplus Semiconductor
2021 ｜ 46 audio products and 31 major brands embedding power management chips of Thinkplus Semiconductor
2022 ｜ Power management chips solution of Thinkplus Semiconductor continuously improves user satisfaction
Will the market in 2023 be better than 2022?
Dong said, "It is predicted that the consumer electronics industry will rise in 2023. Although it will be better than 2022 on the whole, it will take time to achieve this. It will be really better by 2025 and 2026. Thinkplus Semiconductor will also keep up with the pace of economic development. The reason why we are working hard is to meet the arrival of that moment."
What does Hui Capital value in Thinkplus Semiconductor investment?
In January 2021, Thinkplus Semiconductor received series A financing from the investor Beijing Yitang Huachuang Equity Investment Center (Limited Partnership) and Hefei Shixi Chanheng Integrated Circuit Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership).
In January 2023, Thinkplus Semiconductor completed the series B financing of nearly RMB 100 million from Hui Capital.
Hui Capital is an investor dedicated to industrial investment, and has many successful investment cases in the semiconductor field. The actual controller of Hui Capital is BYD co-founder Yang Longzhong, who ranked 1,050 on The Hurun Richest People in China 2022 with a fortune of RMB 6 billion.
Hui Capital is committed to investing in the new technologies, new processes, new products and service innovation to improve user experience. The Internet, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and 5th generation mobile communication technology are emerging one after another. The aims of innovation and development of those technologies are to improve customer experience, which shows that the world economy has entered an experience era.
Hui Capital focuses on investing in innovative technologies, which coincides with the idea of Thinkplus Semiconductor "Adhering to innovation is fundamental to enterprise survival".
As for choosing to invest in Thinkplus Semiconductor in the downturn period, Xiao Haiwei, Investment Director of Hui Capital said, "There is a business cycle in any industry, and the same is true in the consumer electronics industry, but this law does not apply to entrepreneurs. The best entrepreneurs are those who can lead their teams to resolve uncertainties and overcome difficulties, and lead their teams to succeed by actively creating value beyond bull and bear cycles."
Xiao believes that although the current consumer electronics industry has declined significantly in development, smart terminals such as mobile phones and IoT+health technology still maintain an industrial scale of trillions of yuan; technological innovation is not going to stop and customers' demand for technology and product innovation will not stagnate. An excellent team that is committed to the above industries and a customer-centered approach to create value for customers will surely usher in the "Davis double play" moment when the consumer electronics market comes alive again.
Talking about the reasons for choosing Thinkplus Semiconductor, Xiao said that with deep cultivation in semiconductor (integrated circuits) industry, the team of Thinkplus Semiconductor has always been focusing on the research and development and application of lithium battery-powered products, and adhering to the customer's market demand as the center. As a dedicated, diligent and discreet team that can endure the loneliness of "key & core technology", it has the characteristics of an excellent entrepreneur.
"The essence of investment is to invest in good people and good team. We fully trust and respect the team of Thinkplus Semiconductor. We believe that under the leadership of General Manager Dong Guanbin, Thinkplus Semiconductor will certainly be able to consolidate its basic consumer electronics business, capture the good opportunities in the renewable energy industry, and make active plans for development of high-performance analog ICs for electric vehicles, energy storage, photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation, short-distance travel and other fields. I believe that good enterprises like Thinkplus Semiconductor will inevitably have a better and broader development prospect for development."
What is the purpose of financing of RMB 100 million?
Thinkplus Semiconductor received nearly RMB 100 million in series B financing this time, which will be mainly used for the company's new product R&D and the recruitment of new team members.
Thinkplus Semiconductor will focus more on the innovation and improvement of lithium battery power management technology, further improve the competitiveness of the R&D team, and work closely with the upstream and downstream partners of the industrial chain. While deeply exploring the consumer electronics industry, Thinkplus Semiconductor will accelerate the expansion to industrial, automotive electronics and other business areas, so as to provide more kinds and better quality products and services for global customers.
About new product R&D
In 2023, the main new products of Thinkplus Semiconductor are still those related to battery management IC, such as BMS ultra-high voltage, high current DC-DC, and coulometers with self-developed algorithm patents.
Coulometer IC is the core component of an intelligent battery system, which has a certain impact on the measurement accuracy, service life and working reliability of a battery. It is widely used in many fields, including smart phones, smart wearable devices, smart meters, medical devices, power-driven tools, and new energy vehicles.
In addition to the existing TWS earbuds, power bank, and smart watch product lines, coulometer ICs, automotive ICs, and industrial ICs will also become important product lines of Thinkplus Semiconductor, and are expected to grow into its leading product lines.
About recruitment of new team members
The number of employees at Thinkplus Semiconductor has grown from 70 in 2021 to 140 in 2022 and is expected to grow to nearly 200 in 2023.
The company has set up branch offices in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shanghai, Zhuhai, and the R&D team members account for about 62% of the total number of employees of the company. They are excellent graduates from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Xi'an Jiaotong University and other well-known universities. Among them, more than 50% have a master's degree or above. Up to now, the company has applied for and obtained more than 140 independent intellectual property rights.
The recruitment of new team members in 2023 will focus on multiple categories of positions and functions, including analog engineers, digital engineers, layout engineers, system application engineers, process engineers, test engineers, FAE engineers, key account managers, and so on.
Ms. Dou of www.52audio.com and Mr. Dong of Thinkplus Semiconductor
Summary of www.52audio.com
As an expert in battery management IC, a leader in TWS earbuds power SoC and a national high-tech enterprise, Thinkplus Semiconductor has applied for and obtained more than 140 independent intellectual property rights since its establishment, and has successively achieved good results of ranking first in the industry for shipment volume in the 1A power bank SoC market and first in the market share of TWS cradle SoC, with accumulated shipment volume of more than 700 million pieces.
After 11 years of development, Thinkplus Semiconductor has performed well in both the TWS earbuds market and the smart wearable watch market. With keen market insight, excellent innovation ability and tenacious vitality, the team has firmly seized every market opportunity and developed from a niche market to a wider market. It is believed that Thinkplus Semiconductor will go further.
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