- Funds to support advanced semiconductor equipment component R&D amid rising demand for domestic substitution
- Company strengthens push into high-end etching supply chain with vertically integrated silicon crystal capabilities
Sicreat(新美光半导体), an advanced semiconductor materials and components manufacturer, has raised around 1 billion yuan ($147 million) in a Series C+ financing round.
The injection, announced on July 3, was led by Oriza Holdings, with participation from a wide range of strategic and financial investors including ZP Capital, YF Capital, BOC Capital, China Post Capital Management, and a Suzhou state-owned venture fund, among others.
The latest round comes just two months after the Suzhou-based startup completed its Series D funding totaling several hundred million yuan in April, underscoring continued investor enthusiasm for China’s semiconductor equipment component localization play.
The new capital will be used to accelerate R&D in advanced process components and strengthen the company’s position as a global supplier of critical semiconductor equipment parts.
Plasma etching
Founded in 2013 and based in the Suzhou Industrial Park, Sicreat is a national-level “little giant” enterprise specializing in semiconductor equipment components.
The company focuses on plasma etching consumables and core parts for advanced process nodes, building an integrated technology stack spanning silicon crystal growth, precision micro-nano machining, surface coating and electronic control systems.
Plasma etching is a key step in chip manufacturing, where ionized gas, or plasma, is used as a nanoscale “engraving tool” to remove unwanted material from wafer substrates according to circuit patterns defined in earlier lithography steps.
The precision and purity of silicon components used in this process are critical, as even minor defects can compromise entire wafers.
Sicreat said it has developed proprietary super-conductive magnetic field MCZ technology.
MCZ refers to the Magnetic Czochralski method, a specialized technique used in the semiconductor industry to grow high-quality single-crystal silicon for computer chips and power devices.
Breaking overseas dominance
In 2020, the Suzhou startup became one of the first Chinese firms to produce 450mm ultra-large semiconductor-grade single-crystal silicon ingots.
They come with “extremely high purity and defect-free” structures, which Sicreat claims helped break long-standing overseas dominance in the segment.
The company’s products are already integrated into supply chains of leading Chinese semiconductor equipment makers and fabs, including Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China and NAURA Technology Group.
