The A-share market is about to welcome another star semiconductor company.
Recently, high-speed interconnect chip company "Taorun Semiconductor" completed its pre-listing tutoring registration with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau, targeting a listing on the ChiNext board.
Founded in August 2015, Taorun Semiconductor focuses on the technology R&D and productization of analog and analog-mixed-signal chips. The company's founder, Guan Yi, is a veteran in the chip field, having previously led the development of complex products like 4G base station main control chips.
Semiconductors have always been a capital-intensive industry, and Taorun Semiconductor is no exception. Since its inception, the company has secured 12 rounds of financing. Its backers include not only local state-owned capital such as the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Beijing Information Industry Development Fund, and Fujian Electronic Information Industry Fund, but also a host of well-known institutions and industrial capital like Tongchuang Weiye, Gaorong Venture Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, and BYD.
It is worth noting that Xia Zuoquan's name also appears on Taorun Semiconductor's list of investors. In 2018, he delivered the first tranche of funding to Taorun Semiconductor through Zhengyuan Capital and participated in multiple follow-on rounds subsequently. As of now, Zhengyuan Capital holds a 6.7% stake in the company, making it the second-largest institutional shareholder. Xia Zuoquan himself, through direct and indirect holdings, has secured a 5.3% share.
If Taorun Semiconductor successfully goes public, this "Most Awesome Angel" investor will add another achievement to his record.
A Returnee Chip Veteran Starts a Business, Aiming for "Import Substitution"
The story of Taorun Semiconductor begins with its founder, Guan Yi.
Guan Yi holds a master's degree from New York University and previously worked in the APD department of global chip giant Broadcom, boasting nearly two decades of chip design experience. Having spent many years overseas, he was acutely aware of the shortcomings of domestic chips at the time: core technologies for high-performance analog and mixed-signal chips were long held by overseas giants like Broadcom and Marvell. The localization ratio was extremely low, nearly non-existent in the early years.
In the semiconductor landscape, analog chips are a typical "small yet refined" category—individually not highly valuable but scattered in every corner of communications, automotive, and industrial sectors, truly the "industrial MSG." The higher-end the analog and mixed-signal chips, the more they rely on long-term experience accumulation and process refinement, which is precisely the foundation for the overseas giants' multi-year monopoly.
Seeing the opportunity for "import substitution" in related fields, in 2015, Guan Yi gave up his high overseas salary, returned to China, and founded Shanghai Taorun Semiconductor, specializing in technology-driven, high-end analog chip design for toB clients in sectors like communications and automotive.
After a two-year incubation period, the company's first self-developed chip gained initial industry recognition in 2017. In 2018, the first high-performance analog chip was taped out. In 2020, key IP for core customers was delivered. By 2025, multiple products entered the mass production cycle.
To date, Taorun Semiconductor has established four main product lines: high-speed high-precision ADC/DAC, ultra-high-speed SerDes chips, oDES and signal chain chips, and custom analog-mixed-signal ASICs—all targeting the hottest application scenarios like 5G base stations, AI data centers, and new energy vehicles. Among them, multiple high-end chips, including 400G & 800G non-coherent DSP chips, have successively entered the mass production stage, successfully filling several gaps in domestic substitution for communications and data center fields.
Commercial returns followed. According to its official data, from 2022 to 2024, Taorun Semiconductor's revenue grew at an annualized rate exceeding 80%, and it entered the supply chain of domestic TOP3 communications equipment manufacturers.
Now, with the completion of the tutoring registration, Guan Yi will lead Taorun Semiconductor into a new stage of development.
Backed by Xia Zuoquan, Completing a Cumulative 12 Rounds of Financing
In the capital market, investors have also been very receptive to Taorun Semiconductor. Since its establishment, the company has completed a total of 12 rounds of financing.
Back in 2018, Taorun Semiconductor officially opened for external financing and soon attracted the attention of hard-tech investor Xia Zuoquan, who invested several million yuan through his Zhengyuan Capital.
With the backing of the star investor, the company maintained a financing pace of 1 to 2 rounds per year thereafter, with continuous capital injection: in January 2020, Tongchuang Weiye and Chenshan Capital participated in the Pre-A round. In August 2021, the company received A-round funding from Shenzhen Capital Group and Fenghe Fund. In November of the same year, the B round, jointly led by Gaorong Venture Capital and Shenzhen Capital Group with follow-on investments from Zhengyuan Capital and Tongchuang Weiye, was announced.
For Taorun Semiconductor, 2022 was an important turning point. That year, industrial capital BYD stepped in, investing 49.5 million yuan of its own funds in a C-round financing, acquiring nearly 2.48% of the company's equity, valuing the company at 2 billion yuan at the time. In May and September of the same year, CICC Capital and China Merchants Capital participated in two subsequent C-series financing rounds, respectively.
Starting in 2023, local state-owned capital entered the scene. The company received support from the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund. The Fujian Electronic Information Industry Investment Fund participated in a tens-of-millions-yuan D+ round in 2025. During the same period, the company also introduced shareholders like Xietong Capital, Dawu Venture Capital, and Chuhui Capital.
The financing climax came in January 2026. Taorun Semiconductor completed a several-hundred-million-yuan D++ round of financing. This was a standard collective "bulk purchase," with investors including nearly ten institutions such as Xicheng Jinrui, Xinwei Capital, Galaxy Yuanhui, Zhongyuan Capital, Jinma Investment, Shenzhen Capital Group, Gaorong Venture Capital, and Tongchuang Weiye—old money, long-term capital, and industrial capital all entered.
One week later, Taorun Semiconductor completed its most recent round of financing to date. The investors were the Beijing High-end Precision Industry Development Fund, Beijing Information Industry Development Fund, and Beijing Green Energy and Low-Carbon Industry Investment Fund—all three are industrial funds with Beijing state-owned capital backgrounds. Subsequently, Taorun Semiconductor quickly relocated to Beijing and completed its joint-stock transformation.
Eight years, twelve rounds, cumulative financing exceeding one billion yuan—when a shareholder list simultaneously gathers top financial investors, industrial capital, and local state-owned capital, Taorun Semiconductor's "IPO-ready" profile is quite complete.
"Most Awesome Angel," on the Verge of Securing a 5th IPO
In Taorun Semiconductor's shareholder list, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly the angel investor, Xia Zuoquan, known as the "Most Awesome Angel." Mentioning him naturally leads to the legendary story involving BYD.
In 1994, Xia Zuoquan, then engaged in securities investment, met Wang Chuanfu by chance. Impressed by the latter's passion, he invested 300,000 yuan and co-founded BYD with Wang Chuanfu. He was both a co-founder and the earliest angel investor.
In the following years, Xia Zuoquan joined BYD full-time, deeply involved in corporate governance, accompanying BYD's growth into today's automotive giant. As of now, he still holds a 2.72% stake, ranking among the top three individual shareholders of BYD. That early investment ultimately translated into an astonishing 80,000-fold return, making Xia Zuoquan famous in one fell swoop.
In 2010, Xia Zuoquan resigned from his position as BYD's vice president, retaining only his role as a director, and began focusing his efforts on Zhengyuan Investment, which he founded back in 2003.
According to data from CVSource, Zhengyuan Investment currently manages assets exceeding 10 billion yuan, focusing on early and mid-stage hard-tech investments. To date, the institution has invested in 149 companies across fields like semiconductors, new energy, artificial intelligence, and commercial aerospace.
Among them, Ubtech, in which Zhengyuan Investment was one of the earliest angel investors, went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2023, becoming the "first humanoid robotics stock." According to public reports, this investment also brought the institution an approximately 1000-fold return. Additionally, two other portfolio companies of Zhengyuan Investment—Ethernet PHY chip company Yutai Micro and lithium battery slurry equipment manufacturer Shangshui Intelligent—have also successfully listed on the A-share market.
If Taorun Semiconductor successfully lists this time, Xia Zuoquan will welcome his fifth IPO after BYD, Ubtech, Yutai Micro, and Shangshui Intelligent.
As of now, Zhengyuan Capital holds a 6.7% stake in Taorun Semiconductor, making it the company's second-largest institutional shareholder. Xia Zuoquan himself holds a combined 5.3% equity through direct and indirect means. Although Taorun Semiconductor has not yet disclosed a specific valuation, considering the current secondary market pricing for semiconductor companies and the scale of the company's previous financing rounds, this investment is highly likely to become another classic case in Xia Zuoquan's early investment career.
This article is from WeChat public account "投中网" (ChinaVenture), author: Wang Manhua
