Recently, it was reported that Ziguang Zhanrui is seeking a new round of financing. The company plans to raise 10 billion yuan, with a valuation of about 70 billion yuan.
The report also said that Ziguang Zhanrui has approached several investment funds, and the goal is to finalize the list of investors before mid-March, complete this round of financing before the end of June, and finally list in China.
It is worth noting that at the Ziguang Zhanrui 2023 investor exchange conference held on February 8, Ziguang Zhanrui announced that it will achieve operating income of 14 billion yuan in 2022, an increase of 20% against the trend, and at the same time announced that the company officially launched a new round. Equity financing news. However, the final list of investors for financing at this meeting has not yet been determined.
Regarding the 10 billion yuan financing plan reported on the Internet, Ziguang Zhanrui told the media, “This financing is mainly for market-oriented investment institutions, and the financing scale is planned to be no more than 15 billion yuan. The funds to be recruited will serve the company’s development strategy. On the basis of mobile phone and Internet of Things business, we will further expand emerging fields such as automotive electronics and smart display.”
Group reorganization finalized, Ziguang Zhanrui accelerates IPO
As we all know, on July 11 last year, Tsinghua Unigroup successfully completed the industrial and commercial registration procedures for the company’s equity and new directors, supervisors, and general managers. The two original shareholders, Tsinghua Holdings Co., Ltd. and Beijing Jiankun Investment Group Co., Ltd., all withdrew. Beijing Zhiguangxin Holdings Co., Ltd., a holding platform established by the investor “Zhilu Jianguang Consortium”, took over 100% of the equity of Tsinghua Unigroup. The transfer of the equity of Tsinghua Unigroup has been successfully completed, marking that the work of the judicial reorganization implementation stage has entered the final stage. , Tsinghua Unigroup has entered a new stage of development.
The reorganized Tsinghua Unigroup has attracted so much attention from the industry, not only because the Tsinghua Unigroup and its subsidiaries have a pivotal position in the fields of communications and technology, but also because its subsidiary Tsinghua Unigroup Zhanrui is one of the few in my country that can launch self-developed mobile phones at this stage. SoC’s “dark horse” company. Affected by the restructuring of Ziguang Group, the listing process of Ziguang Zhanrui has also been adjusted accordingly.
According to public information, after going through the listing rumors in 2019, the 5 billion yuan Pre-IPO financing in 2020, the 5.35 billion yuan financing in April 2021, and rumors that the pre-listing equity optimization is in progress, the current Ziguang Exhibition Rui’s major shareholder is Beijing Ziguang Spreadtrum Investment Management Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 35.23%, China National Integrated Circuit Industry Fund Co., Ltd. holds 13.96%, and Intel (China) Co., Ltd. holds 11.87%. Others are held by various types of capital.
Since the completion of the last round of financing, Ziguang Zhanrui has a valuation of about 62 billion yuan. If this new round of financing can be successfully completed, Zhanrui’s valuation will not be lower than 62 billion yuan, or is expected to exceed 70 billion yuan.
One of the three 5G chip companies in the global public market
As the core mobile phone chip design company in China, the development of Ziguang Zhanrui has been highly anticipated. Especially since HiSilicon was unable to continue mass production of chips due to some well-known reasons, domestic consumers began to worry about the future of domestic 5G chips.
At present, the only 5G chip supplier in the open market in mainland China is Unigroup Zhanrui. It is also one of the three 5G chip companies in the global open market (Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Unigroup Zhanrui). One of the companies with full-scenario communication technologies such as 3G/4G/5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV FM, and satellite communications.
Before 2018, Ziguang Zhanrui focused on the consumer electronics business. At the end of 2018, it began to establish the Industrial Electronics Business Department and began to explore To B business. In January 2019, when Ziguang Zhanrui’s first 5G chip was successfully taped out, it also implemented business BU, established three BUs of intelligent terminal BU, communication BU, and pan-connection BU, and established two major business divisions of consumer electronics and industrial electronics . In April 2021, Ziguang Zhanrui will upgrade the mobile communication chip of the Huben brand to the new 5G brand Tanggula.
In the consumer electronics business, a product line layout has been formed in four major areas: 5G, 4G, smart wearables, and functional phones;
In the industrial electronics business, 5G IoT chips, NB-IoT IoT chips, LTE-Cat. 1 The product line layout of the three major areas of IoT chips.
Ziguang Zhanrui has also launched self-developed SoCs since the 2G era. In the 5G era, they have simultaneously launched self-developed 5G chips and applied them to some brand products. It is understood that in addition to China Telecom, well-known domestic manufacturers such as ZTE and Hisense are also UNISOC’s 5G customers, and the number of 5G commercial terminals under the company has exceeded 100.
The author noticed that at the recent investor exchange meeting, Ren Qiwei, CEO of Ziguang Zhanrui, said that in 2022, affected by the international situation, market downturn and industrial cycle, the shipment and price of smartphone chips will be under pressure. Overcoming the great challenges in all aspects, it completed the revenue target of 14 billion yuan, an increase of 20% against the trend. In 2022, Zhanrui will realize the mass production and shipment of the second-generation 5G SoC, and new products will be mass-produced in automotive electronics, Internet of Things and other fields.
Although the time of Zhanrui’s next IPO is still unknown, the recent equity financing actions will undoubtedly speed up the process.
