Semidrive

Founded in June 2018, Semidrive is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Nanjing, China, that develops high-performance, automotive-grade chips. The company was co-founded by Chairman Jason Zhang (Zhang Qiang) and CEO Maggie Qiu (Qiu Yujing). The leadership team possesses extensive experience in the semiconductor industry, with core members having nearly 20 years in mass production of automotive-grade chips. Maggie Qiu has over 20 years in the chip industry, including a decade of entrepreneurial experience in Silicon Valley.

Semidrive operates on a fabless business model, focusing on the design and development of its products while outsourcing manufacturing. The company's revenue is generated from the sale of its semiconductor chips and solutions to a broad client base that includes automakers and Tier 1 suppliers. Its clientele covers over 90% of Chinese car manufacturers, such as SAIC, Chery, and Li Auto, as well as several major international automakers like Nissan, Honda, and Volkswagen, serving more than 260 customers in total.

The company's product portfolio is designed for modern vehicle electronic architectures, specifically targeting intelligent cockpits, smart vehicle control, autonomous driving, and central gateways. Its main product lines include the X9 series for smart cockpits, the V9 series for intelligent driving, the G9 series for central gateways, and the E3 series of high-performance microcontrollers (MCUs). These System-on-Chips (SoCs) integrate high-performance CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators, and video processors. Semidrive's solutions support hardware virtualization, which allows multiple operating systems to run on a single chip. A significant milestone was achieved in 2019 when Semidrive became the first Chinese semiconductor firm to receive the ISO 26262 functional safety management system certification. Since then, it has acquired a comprehensive suite of five major safety and security certifications, including AEC-Q100 reliability and ISO/SAE 21434 for cybersecurity.

The company has secured significant funding across multiple rounds, including a Series A in 2020, a Series B in 2021, and a Series B+ in late 2022, with investors like SAIC, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners China, and Lenovo Capital. These funds are directed towards research and development of chips using more advanced manufacturing processes and accelerating the mass production and adoption of its products. Semidrive has established multiple R&D centers and offices across China and is expanding globally, with a partnership in Japan to serve the local market and a deal to supply a European carmaker starting in late 2026.

Keywords: automotive semiconductors, system-on-chip (SoC), smart cockpit, autonomous driving, central gateway, microcontroller (MCU), fabless semiconductor, automotive-grade chips, in-vehicle infotainment, ADAS, functional safety, ISO 26262, vehicle electronics, automotive cybersecurity, X9 series, V9 series, G9 series, E3 series, Nanjing, intelligent vehicle control