“Xima”, which provides integrated solutions for aerospace standard MEMS chips, was awarded series B financing

Western Centaur Joint Measurement and Control (Quanzhou) Technology Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “Western Centaur”) recently announced the acquisition of B round of financing. The round was led by Shanghai Jinpu Innovation Equity Investment Management Co., LTD., Shanghai International Group Asset Management Co., LTD., and Shanghai SDIC Asset Management Co., LTD.

With the arrival of THE 5G era, the Internet of Things will show explosive growth. Chips and intelligent sensors and nodes, chip sensor-related software and algorithms, and customized sensor solutions for the networking of complexes will become industry trends. China is currently the world’s fastest growing MEMS market, accounting for about half of the global market size.

According to Qianzhan Research Institute, it is expected that by 2023, the domestic MEMS chip scale will reach 112.6 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 21%; The sensor market will reach 270.3 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 16%. And domestic MEMS sensor chips rely on imports in the early stage, affected by technological costs and other factors, the chip industry has become the most serious “stuck neck” industry. MEMS chip localization design, research and development, manufacturing is an urgent problem to be solved.

“Xima” is a chip service provider relying on IDM (chip design, manufacturing and testing) mode, using AS9100D aerospace quality standard, the current chip types mainly include MEMS chips and ASIC series chips, which can cover high-end accelerometer, pressure, infrared, gas, metal particles, signal processing and other products. To provide customers with end-to-end, edge-tube-cloud, from sensing layer chips, sensors, to edge computing and cloud integrated solutions. Application scenarios cover aerospace, energy, transportation, industry, consumer electronics and other fields. The current service model customers are Airbus, CRRC Group, China Aviation Development, China Mobile, Jiuan Medical, Desai Group and so on.

The integrated solution of “end – edge – tube – cloud – use” created by Xima

“Xima” research and development of MEMS chips are divided into optical chips and pressure chips, has completed the independent design of infrared thermopile chips, thermal imaging chips, UV-LED chips, pressure chips, silicon microphone chips, etc.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has increased demand for anti-epidemic materials such as temperature guns. As China has long relied on imports from German and Japanese companies for its infrared thermopile sensing chips, the limited domestic stock and foreign supply are far from meeting the needs of the epidemic. In this context, “Western Centaur” began independent research and development of infrared thermopile sensor chip on February 10, 10 days to complete the independent research and development of infrared thermopile sensor, and began mass production on March 10 to achieve “domestic replacement”. Infrared hot reactor chip is not only used in temperature gun, but also used in security, monitoring and other fields.

In terms of customized high-end sensors, “Xima” independently developed the lubricating oil quality sensor, which can realize the detection in the flow caliber of 33 mm. 100μm of metal particles (the international level is still measured at the millimeter level). At present, relying on the advantages of IDM mode, “Xima” equipped with an independent production line for Airbus, and has passed three rounds of Tests by Airbus to enter the bidding stage, and is the only chip company that has passed the test of Product sample submission by Airbus in China.

In terms of scene landing, “Xima” integrates infrared thermopile sensor chip, infrared thermal imaging sensor chip, MEMS pressure sensor chip, piezoelectric sensor and lubricating oil quality sensor to provide Internet of Things solutions and create an intelligent elevator system. It can help enterprises to reduce labor costs and improve maintenance efficiency, help property companies to achieve visual maintenance traceability, and provide more security for elevator users.

This round of financing will be used to increase investment in research and development, accelerate product mass production and functional upgrades, and optimize supply chains and service systems. On the other hand, Xima will continue to expand production capacity, expand chip and sensor production lines, and improve the automation level of the production line, so as to meet a large number of product demands in the market and accept potential orders for smart elevator system.