In recent years, with the rapid development of emerging industries such as autonomous driving, the Internet of Things, and 5G, NOR Flash has found new applications and its overall demand has continued to grow, despite being previously overshadowed by NAND Flash. At the same time, emerging markets have set higher performance requirements for NOR Flash. Against this backdrop, domestic storage supplier Shenzhen XTX Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as XTX) announced the completion of a B-round financing of 260 million yuan, led by Sequoia Capital China Fund. The investors included A-round investor Shenzhen Venture Capital, along with Dunan Capital and Zhongtoubang. Just this January, XTX completed an A-round financing of 60 million yuan. Completing two rounds of financing within just over half a year not only highlights XTX's immense growth potential but also underscores the continuous improvement of the competitive strength of domestic storage products amid escalating US-China trade competition!
Continuously creating value for customers is the key to success.
Since its establishment in 2014, XTX has launched its own brand NAND MCP and started mass production, successfully passing validation on major mobile platforms. In just a few years, the product range has expanded to include NAND MCP, SPI NAND, SD NAND, and SPI NOR Flash series. By 2017, shipments reached around 200 million units, with forecasts predicting a significant increase in 2018, making it one of the most representative players in China's storage industry.
The rapid development can be attributed to XTX's founder Long Dongqing, who believes: 'From the outset, the company established its mission of 'Innovation-driven, Connecting the World with Chips,' achieving corporate success through continuous innovation, enhancing customer value with high-quality products, and returning benefits to shareholders and society. On the other hand, the founding team's extensive experience working with leading international storage semiconductor manufacturers has been crucial for our ability to achieve mass production and establish a foothold in the market.'
For the storage industry, there is a certain degree of cyclical nature. Currently, the global storage industry is in an upward phase of a 'V-shaped' adjustment. Previously, due to declining storage prices, international giants like Micron Technology and Cypress gradually withdrew from the NOR Flash market or shifted to high-capacity areas. This has provided domestic companies with a rare opportunity to quickly capture the market, creating a favorable environment for domestic substitution. Long Dongqing states: 'The adjustments by foreign giants present both opportunities and challenges for domestic enterprises. While achieving product substitution, domestic companies also need to identify their unique selling points. Starting from customer needs, actively expanding into new application areas is essential for sustainable growth.' It is precisely for this reason that XTX has developed the 'Wide Voltage (1.65~3.6V) SPI NOR Memory' product to prepare for the upcoming era of the Internet of Things!'
The next focus will be on the layout of Internet of Things application areas.
We all know that the revival of the global NOR Flash market is closely related to the development of emerging applications, including the Internet of Things (IoT). With the rapid advancement of information technology, intelligence, and terminal products, the era of everything being interconnected is approaching, and various application scenarios are gradually becoming clear. According to Gartner data predictions, by 2020, there will be 26 billion IoT devices globally, with a market size reaching $1.9 trillion, which presents a rare opportunity for NOR Flash.
Investors explained that they chose to invest in XTX Semitech due to the continuous increase in demand for NOR Flash in the IoT era, coupled with the low market share of domestic brands globally. XTX Semitech's professional team and competitive product lines have vast growth potential. They hope that XTX Semitech will expand its market share while increasing its R&D efforts to accelerate the development of next-generation process products. In the IoT era, connections will become more frequent, and customers' requirements for power consumption and cost will continue to rise. As one of the main non-volatile flash memory technologies today, although NOR Flash has nearly 30 years of history, it remains the preferred choice for instruction storage, with immense potential for development. Currently, XTX Semitech's SPI NOR Flash offers three different operating voltage options: 1.65~1.95V, 1.65~3.6V, and 2.3~3.6V, suitable for over 150 application areas, particularly excelling in the IoT field with extremely low power consumption, less than 0.1 microampere in sleep mode; high stability, data retention up to 20 years, and over 100,000 write-erase cycles, fully supporting industrial-grade -40°C~85°C and high-temperature -40°C~105°C operating environments. It features industry-standard packaging and pin-compatible design, as well as wafer-level packaging smaller than 1mm x 1mm and ultra-thin packaging under 0.5mm thick, especially suitable for portable products' stringent space requirements. Fully compatible instruction sets can save project development time, ensuring flexible migration across different voltage and capacity design needs, shortening development and validation cycles, and helping customers seize product opportunities. Regarding future development, Long Dongqing also stated that they will further increase.
近几年间，随着自动驾驶、物联网、5G等新兴产业的快速发展，之前被NAND Flash挤压市场的NOR Flash又找到了新的用武之地，整体需求量也保持持续增长态势。与此同时，新兴市场对NOR Flash性能也提出了更高要求。在此背景下，国内存储主力供应商——深圳市芯天下技术有限公司(简称芯天下)宣布完成B轮2.6亿融资，由红杉资本中国基金领投，投资方除A轮投资机构深创投外，还有旦恩资本，众投邦。而就在今年1月，芯天下刚刚完成A轮6000万人民币融资。短短半年多时间就先后完成两轮融资，一方面说明了芯天下未来的巨大成长潜力，另一方面也说明了中美贸易竞争升级之下，国产存储产品整体竞争实力也在不断提升！
