SiliconGo and Auspitek Merged to Establish Yeestor With Series A Round of CNY 300 Million

We missed this news dated April 16, 2018, but we think it was useful to finally publish it now. [Editor]

The storage sector is a pain point in China’s semiconductor industry. As the world’s largest electronic information product manufacturer, China relies on import for 90% of its integrated circuit, with an annual value over $200 billion for four consecutive years and the percentge is even higher in terms of memory chip. Locally-produced chip is rare, as evidenced by the fact that Chinese memory chips occupy a tiny share in DRAM and NAND Flash and less than 10% in NOR Flash.
 
In face of such a serious situation, it is crucial for China to unite efforts of the country to boost the industry of domestically-produced storage. At present, GigaDevice Semiconductor, China’s leading storage manufacturer, is focusing on NOR Flash and SLC NAND, Hefei Rui-Li IC and some other companies are working on DRAM, while YMTC concentrates on NAND Flash, all of which are about to make breakthroughs in this industry of national significance. Meanwhile, locally-produced storage controller, as an essential part in the storage industrial chain, has been in huge demand and thus needs vigorous development.
 
Established in 2007, SliconGo Microelectronics, Inc. is a fabless design house specialized in storage controller. Its key products include general USB/SD controller, embedded eMMC/UFS controller, SSD controller and security storage controller. At the end of last year, SATA SSD installed with SiliconGo’s latest SSD controller was released. This year, YEESTOR will release UFS2.1 controller, PCIe SSD controller, etc.
 
Founded in 2015, Auspitek (Shenzhen) Limited is a portable and cloud storage solution provider committed to supplying customers with NAND Flash controller and cloud SSD solutions. Its key products include eMMC/eMCP controller, SSD controller, etc. which have been used by a number of internationally-renowned enterprises.
 
The new company is named YEE in Chinese, which drives from Chapter 39 of the Chinese Classic, Tao Te Ching,
“There were those in ancient times possessed of the One (the Tao);
Through possession of the One, the Heaven was clarified,
Through possession of the One, The Earth was stabilized,
Through possession of the One, the gods were spiritualized,
Through possession of the One, the valleys were made full,
Through possession of the One, all things lived and grew,
Through possession of the One, the princes and dukes
became the ennobled of the people.”

As YEE means ‘possession of the One’, the new company will possess the Tao of storage industry and continue making innovations and forging ahead to become a leader of the industry and blaze a trail for development.
 
YEESTOR is headquartered in Shenzhen, with subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Hefei and Hangzhou and offices in Shanghai and Hsinchu in Taiwan. Controlled by domestic capital, it conducts R&D mainly in mainland China and has more than 300 employees. The combination of two teams, SiliconGo and Auspitek, will function in integrating global resources for a coordinated development and giant leap in business.
 
The two groups, which have been working in storage industry for a number of years, join together as one powerful team to foster a complete storage controller production line that covers USB, SD, eMMC, UFS, SATA SSD and PCIe SSD and to provide storage solutions for consumers, industrial use and automotive use. YEESTOR is currently the manufacturer with the most complete mass-produced storage controller production line in China. Its clients include storage IC companies, module manufacturers, etc., such as Longsys, GigaDevice, Lexar, ESMT, Nanya Technology and BARUN.
 
With a good team and an international sales network, YEESTOR will continue providing solutions with a range of products to deliver one-stop solutions of NAND Flash sorting, assembly, production and QC for clients, accelerating the mass production of products and improving client value.
 
A group of investors, featuring lead-investors Stonebrook Capital LLC and Hua Capital Etown Management, funds CNY 300 million in series A round.
 
SiliconGo and Auspitek have already delivered an accumulated number of more than 150 million eMMC/eMCP controllers and more than 500 million general storage controllers. YEESTOR receives a support from industry. The series A round is lead-invested by Stonebrook Capital LLC and Hua Capital Etown Management, two strategic investment partners of GigaDevice Semiconductor, and co-invested by Shenzhen Longsys Electronics Co., Ltd, Walden International, THG Ventures Co. Ltd, TCL Corp., Transsion Holdings and Glory Ventures.
 
Wang Lin, chairman, YEESTOR and partner, Walden International, said: “After winning the recognition from semiconductor venture investors, memory chip manufacturers, distribution agents and end enterprises, YEESTOR has developed a powerful ecosystem. The company is the leader in storage controller industry nationwide and still welcomes more investors to join us and support the development of YEESTOR and China’s storage controller industry. The merger and financing manifest the industry’s confidence in YEESTOR’s future and their determination to develop domestically-produced memory chip with concerted efforts.”
 
David Wu, CEO, YEESTOR, said: “We are honored to have support from the enterprises in the industry and this should be the largest investment ever for a storage controller manufacturer in China. With powerful resources from shareholders and the most complete storage controller product portfolio, YEESTOR will continue to build up our team and invest more in production. Shouldering the responsibility of developing China’s storage controller, we will explore new technologies and markets for more excellent products and serve our country’s storage industrial development with our one-stop solutions.”
 
GigaDevice is a listed company on the main board and the leader in memory chip design in China. By exploring the market of portable and embedded NAND Flash with its designing technologies, it is gradually establishing itself as a world-class storage designer. The company’s products are used in mobile terminals, electronic products, PCs and peripherals, as well as devices and equipment for the Internet, telecommunication, medical care, office working, automotive electronics and industrial controlling.
 
Stonebrook Capital and Hua Capital Etown Management, as two strategic investment partners of GigaDevice, have fund management teams with experience in semiconductor start-up business and investment. They have invested in OmniVision Technologies, ISSI, Will Semiconductor, Everspin, etc.
 
Shenzhen Longsys Electronics Co., Ltd is a pioneer in China’s storage industry that is headquartered in Shenzhen with subsidiaries or offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and USA. The company is specialized in the application design of portable storage, embedded storage, SSD storage and micro-storage, and the R&D and global sales of innovative technological products. It has been committed to bringing clients storage products and services with innovative design. While remaining its power in product R&D and capabilities in IC firmware design, wafer packaging, substrate design and mobile APP design, Longsys is also making technological innovations in developing storage peripherals.
 
As the world’s most important VC investor in semiconductor, Walden International has invested in GalaxyCore, MEMSensing, GigaDevice, Giantec Semiconductor, SMIC, AMEC, Haier IC Design Co., Ltd, Silergy Corp. and Amlogic. It focuses on investing in start-ups and early-stage companies in the industries of the Internet, mobile and wireless applications, communication, semiconductor and software.
 
THG Ventures is a VC investor under Tsinghua Holdings. The precedent of its core team once created excellent investment performance in the era of ‘TusPark Ventures’. Since 1999, the team of THG Ventures has begun investing in the science and technology sector. As one of the earliest Chinese teams focusing on investment in RMB, it has created brands such as ‘TusPark Incubator’ and ‘TusPark Ventures’ and forged relationships with a stable group of experienced partners. By raising and managing more than 10 venture investment funds in a professional and marketized way, it has invested in around 100 medium-sized, small-sized and micro enterprises and built up some star start-ups like GigaDevice. Now the company has developed an investment philosophy and team culture with evident Tsinghua’s characteristics, obtained high and steady revenues, won the recognition and continuous support from multiple capital sources including government guide fund, private capital, financial institution and endowment fund and contributed consistently to the develop of Tsinghua’s industrial system.
 
Established in 1981, TCL is a global intelligent product manufacturer and Internet application service provider. It has a body of around 70,000 employees, 26 R&D centers, more than 10 collaborative labs and 22 production bases, with sales offices in more than 80 countries and regions and a business outreach covering more than 160 countries and regions around the world.
 
Transsion Holdings aims to become the most influential and favorable intelligent terminals and mobile value-added service provider in the global emerging markets. Now it owns mobile phone brands in emerging markets, such as TECNO, itel, Infinix and Spice.
 
Glory Ventures is a Chinese-Israeli cross-border VC investment company established by a new generation of investors and committed to driving and forging a hi-tech ecosystem through in-depth researches on the industry. With a focus on investments in Chinese and Israeli IoT and AI applications, the company has invested in more than 30 start-ups in the area of basic technologies such as IoT transmission chip, sensor, storage, cloud computing and big data, as well as in the area of data application such as industrial IoT platform, financial technologies, intelligent driving and intelligent security system. Most of these companies have grown into the leader in their respective sector. Besides, over 50% of the company’s programs have received joint or follow-up investments from capitals at home and abroad, including SoftBank Group, Alibaba, HTC, Samsung, MediaTek, Foxconn, Wind, Shanda, Fosun, Delphi, Toyota, Magna and Crystal-Optech.