Wuhan Registers 13.2 Billion Yuan Chip Unicorn With 38 Shareholders

By Amara Osei

Wuhan Xinrongguang Technology Co., Ltd. registered in Guanggu with 13.2 billion yuan in registered capital, and 38 shareholders — from Wuhan Xinxin to SMIC PE — put money in on day one. The company's business scope covers integrated circuit design, chip manufacturing and power electronic component manufacturing, according to its registration.

The timing is hard to miss. One day after Xinrongguang completed registration, the Sci-Tech Innovation Board review status of Yangtze Memory Holding updated to "Inquired," with a planned fundraising of 33 billion yuan.

Who backs the new unicorn?

Wuhan Xinxin holds the largest stake at 30.30%. Wuhan Guanggu Semiconductor Industry Investment, a platform under Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone, holds about 15.15%. Ju Yuan Guanggu Xinxin, the vehicle of SMIC PE — an investment institution initiated by SMIC with a professional team — holds 12.1212%.

The market-based lineup includes:

• Shenzhen Venture Capital (via Shenzhen Hongtu Baichuan No. 6): 7.5758%
• Yuanhe Puhua, GF Xinde, Xinding Capital, HSG, Tongchuang Weiye, JZ Capital, China Merchants Capital
• Xienuo Investment, Hongyi Asset Management, Zhongqing Henghui, Yushan Investment, Gaoyu Fund, Hengxu Capital, Zhaorong Capital, Sunac Investment, CEC Health Fund

State and provincial funds also joined: Yangtze River Industry Fund, China Internet Investment Fund, Chengtong Kechuang Fund, Chuchang Investment, Wuhan Kechuang Investment and Yangtze River Capital. Chengtong Kechuang Fund belongs to the first batch of central SOE venture capital parent funds guided by SASAC and led by China Chengtong, with a mandate to invest in hard technology.

SAIC's venture arm and Hubei Changfei Angel Venture Capital Fund, tied to Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable, round out the list. The structure reflects how heavy-asset projects now get financed: no single party can carry a 10-billion-level production line alone, so grouped capital spreads risk and funds future capacity expansion.

What's the Yangtze Memory connection?

Xinrongguang is the new platform led by Wuhan Xinxin after a landmark equity split. The backstory runs two decades. In 2006, Hubei provincial and East Lake zone state assets funded Wuhan Xinxin to build China's first 12-inch wafer fab, initially focused on DRAM. In 2016, the National Memory Base settled in Guanggu and Yangtze Memory Technologies was founded on Wuhan Xinxin's production lines, equipment and process teams.

The turning point came in 2026. On May 19, Yangtze Memory Holding filed for IPO counseling; the same day, Wuhan Xinxin withdrew its own Sci-Tech Innovation Board application. Under A-share rules, related transactions and horizontal competition between the two would have blocked the listing review. In June, Guanggu Semiconductor Industrial Investment and concert parties acquired 39% of Wuhan Xinxin from Yangtze Memory Holding. July brought unconditional anti-monopoly approval; Yangtze Memory Holding diluted to 29.19% and Wuhan Xinxin left the consolidated statements.

The split didn't cut technology ties. Wuhan Xinxin kept 3D heterogeneous integration capabilities — TSV through-silicon via, hybrid bonding, multi-wafer stacking — plus China's first domestically independent 3D heterogeneous integration production line. That stack is Xinrongguang's entry ticket into silicon photonics and optoelectronic integration.

On August 28, Wuhan Xinxin released its ten-year "Xinguang Plan." The market widely reads Xinrongguang's debut days later as the industrialization vehicle for that strategy.

Why does Wuhan suddenly have two chip champions?

Guanggu now hosts the "Seven Stars": Yangtze Memory, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable, Huagong Technology, Accelink Technologies, FiberHome, Guide Infrared and CICT Mobile. Huagong Technology became Hubei's first 100-billion-yuan listed company; Accelink's market value also tops 100 billion yuan; Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable exceeds 360 billion yuan. Once Yangtze Memory completes its IPO, the market's overall value would hit the trillion-yuan level, per the report.

The zone counts 16,000 optoelectronic information enterprises, and Wuhan's optoelectronic information industry has surpassed 850 billion yuan in total scale — one step from trillion-yuan pillar status. The lineage traces to 1976, when Academician Zhao Zisen drew China's first practical optical fiber at Wuhan Research Institute of Posts and Telecommunications.

What comes next?

For Xinrongguang, capital is only the starting point. Wafer manufacturing still demands yield improvement, process iteration and customer development — the report calls these "realistic challenges ahead," and the real test is on the way.