Hangzhou Wenmi Xingguang Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Wenmi Xingguang”) was founded by a doctor who returned from overseas. It is a technology-based, international science and technology innovation company with high-power semiconductor laser chips as its core products. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, the “City of Innovation and Vitality”.
WINDMILL Headquarters——CETC HIK Industrial Park
The core team of WINDMILL comes from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The university is at the forefront of the world in research fields such as InP-based universal platform technology and III-V semiconductor integration technology. It has many world-leading instruments and equipment. It is also the founding unit and management unit of JePPIX, the world’s leading III-V photonic chip wafer platform.
LiDAR enters a period of rapid development. With the rapid development of autonomous driving, the importance of LiDAR, a core perception system, has become increasingly prominent. Huawei’s high-profile entry into the market has led to 2021 being dubbed the “Year of LiDAR.” According to statistics, the number of LiDARs installed in domestic vehicles will reach 130,000 in 2022 and 300,000 in 2023, a growth rate of 130%. High-performance, low-cost LiDAR will become standard equipment on all new vehicles.
“Domestication of chips is an urgent priority.” Due to the lengthy chip manufacturing industry chain, encompassing EDA, IP, equipment, design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, mask manufacturing, and materials, any bottleneck in any one link can hinder the entire industry. my country is particularly weak in these four areas: IP, EDA, lithography equipment, and chip manufacturing. Consequently, my country’s chip self-sufficiency rate is low, with heavy reliance on imports and a severe shortage of high-end chips. With the passage of the US CHIP Act, the situation will only worsen. Only by strengthening technological research and development and increasing the domestic substitution rate of chips can the problem be fundamentally resolved.
In this context, Wenmixingguang’s R&D team focuses on the field of high-power laser chips, focusing on domestically produced high-end laser chips, and is committed to achieving internationalization of technology and localization of production.
Wenmi Xingguang’s R&D team has deep technical expertise in optical communications, optoelectronic systems, and photonic integration, and boasts extensive experience in laser chip design and processing. The company is developing core laser chips for L3 and higher-level autonomous driving lidars. Its core products include high-saturation-power 1550nm gain chips and high-power 1550nm FP laser chips. The company also offers components in various packaging formats, including TO and butterfly packages, tailored to customer needs.
WINDMILL can also develop customized optical chips according to customer needs.
The company has now completed multiple rounds of chip tape-outs, sent samples to multiple downstream manufacturers for testing, and has achieved small-scale mass production.
Investor introduction：
Hangzhou Tunlan Investment Management Co., Ltd. is a rapidly emerging and unique professional venture capital management company in China. Since its establishment, Tunlan Investment has invested in over 100 companies, managing over 10 billion RMB in assets under management and over 30 funds. Over 20 of its portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired, and over 10 are planning to go public or be acquired. In December 2017 and November 2020, Tunlan Investment was awarded the title of “Most Trusted Financial Institution for Zhejiang Merchants.”
Tunlan Investment is committed to using capital to promote the development of technology and innovation in China, focusing on hard technology companies, including those in the chip sector, with a high level of professionalism and foresight. It has invested in companies such as Shangyue Optoelectronics, a low-power energy chip provider; Guangzhishen, a high-end electronic component manufacturer; Huanxin Microelectronics, a leading domestic communications chip manufacturer; Canaan Inc., a provider of supercomputing and neural network chips; Haowei Technology, a distributed chip developer; and Lingxin Electronics, a supplier of automotive-grade analog chips. Canaan Inc. and Nano Labs successfully listed on the Nasdaq in November 2019 and July 2022, respectively.
Li Jiahu, an investor at Tunlan Capital, believes: “We are experiencing a historic technological transformation from electronic chips to optical chips. The WenmiXingguang team has world-class expertise in optical chips and photonic integration. We believe that in the trend of domestic chip substitution, WenmiXingguang will not only enhance the level of domestic optical chip R&D and industrialization, but will also have its own place in the future marketization process.”
Yu Chao, an investor at Tunlan Capital, believes: “As autonomous driving becomes increasingly popular and becomes a trend in the evolution of smart cars, LiDAR, as a core vision system, has been widely recognized by the automotive industry. The market size is expected to reach tens of billions of US dollars in the next few years. Its hardware foundation lies in the improvement of sensor capabilities, and its software foundation lies in algorithm optimization. After examining and comparing many startups, we believe that Wenmi Xingguang not only possesses core competitiveness at the chip level, but also has sustainable R&D capabilities. Its products have a wide range of application scenarios in fields such as LiDAR and consumer electronics. We are optimistic that the Wenmi Xingguang team will become a shining star in the field of optical chips.”
WINDMILL’s product and technology advantages
High-power, high-beam-quality semiconductor lasers, capable of producing high-intensity, high-brightness beams, are essential components of many laser systems. They expand the range of laser applications, from high-precision, long-distance sensing to medical procedures and scientific research. High-power lasers are also a key future trend in the laser industry.
Wenmi Xingguang’s team has successfully developed a 1550nm wavelength 300mW InP laser chip that meets core requirements such as high power, high stability, high efficiency and cost control. This product has good application prospects in sensing, ranging, lidar, optoelectronic medical and other fields.
High-power edge-emitting laser chip (physical)
WINDMILL’s team advantages
WINDMILL Optoelectronics boasts a highly educated team, with over 70% of its employees holding master’s or doctoral degrees. The core team members hail from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, the founding and management unit of JePPIX, a leading global III-V photonic chip tapeout platform.
The team has profound technical expertise in optical communications, optoelectronic systems, and photonic integration, and has extensive experience in laser chip design and processing.
The team is developing core laser chips for L3 and above autonomous driving lidars. It has completed multiple rounds of chip tape-outs, and the entire process has been domestically produced. Samples have been sent to multiple downstream manufacturers for testing, and the team has the ability to conduct small-scale mass production.
WINDMILL’s industrial layout advantages：
WINDMILL specializes in domestically produced high-end laser chips, committed to achieving both internationalized technology and localized production. Leveraging its proprietary high-end chip design and testing capabilities, WINDMILL collaborates closely with chip manufacturers to provide a complete industrial chain, from laser chip design and testing to production and sales. WINDMILL’s high-end laser products can be applied in fields such as LiDAR, quantum communications, consumer electronics, and medical aesthetics, all of which hold enormous potential for industry development and broad market prospects.