Tsinghua-backed chipmaker Puxi raises $15M Series C for extreme-environment power chips
What's the deal? Hangzhou PuxiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Optoelectronics Semiconductor Technology, a Chinese firm making special power chips for extreme environments, has raised US$13.8M in a Series C round. New backers include 10 state-owned and industrial investors, among them Zhejiang Jiahe Changyue, Chengdu Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Shanghai Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Industry Investment Fund, Shandong Finance Group-affiliated funds, and Guizhou Guochuang.
What does Puxi do? Founded in 2020, the Tsinghua-affiliated company avoided the crowded, price-competitive market for power chips in electric vehicles, solar, and energy storage. Instead it targets power chips and systems built to survive extreme heat, radiation, and cramped spaces.
Its products can withstand ambient temperatures above 250℃ while staying smaller and lighter at the same power output, according to founder and chief executive officer Xu Yili.
Where it's used: Puxi's first market was deep underground energy exploration, where oil drilling tools operate 8,000m below the surface at temperatures over 200℃. "The ambient temperature is already 200 to 300 degrees Celsius, if the equipment itself generates additional heat, the internal temperature may reach 300 to 400 degrees Celsius," Xu said. Since 2023 it has expanded into commercial aerospace and special robot joints.
The numbers: Puxi reported US$31.6M in revenue in 2025, and says it is one of the few profitable companies in its niche.
What's the money for? The round will fund a new generation of gallium oxide chips, capacity expansion of 230℃-grade high-temperature chip modules, high-temperature robot joint R&D, and early research into space computing power and nuclear fusion power supplies.
The signal: As power semiconductors flooded mass markets after 2020, Puxi's bet on extreme-environment niches — from downhole drilling to robotics — shows how specialist chipmakers can build defensible, profitable businesses where mature supply chains barely exist.
Read more: eu.36kr.com
Image credit: EU-Ukraine cooperation
