Xiaomi invested in this Mini LED driver IC related company

Huayuan Zhixin Semiconductor (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Huayuan Zhixin) has undergone industrial and commercial changes, portant;">New shareholders such as Beijing Xiaomi Intelligent Manufacturing Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) have been added. The investment amount of Xiaomi Investment Fund is 248,700 yuan, and the shareholding ratio is 4.35%.

Founded in 2018, Huayuan Zhixin focuses on the design and development of digital power management chips. Its products mainly include ACDC digital control chips, LED driver ICs, PMIC power management chips, and sensors.

In the field of LED driver ICs, Huayuan Zhixin has launched patents, technologies and product-related layouts for Mini LED applications. Currently, Huayuan Zhixin has applied for more than 10 patented technologies worldwide, including communication protocols, control protocols, system architecture, etc.

Technically, Huayuan Zhixin has a unique system architecture that simplifies the complex PCB wiring caused by traditional Mini LED driver technology and reduces costs. At the same time, its system architecture allows flexible partitioning of displays, greatly reducing development costs, especially for Mini LED backlight applications on glass substrates. Currently, Huayuan Zhixin's Mini LED driver IC has been widely used in backlight drivers for TVs and displays.

At this stage, Mini LEThe commercial and market value of 3D backlight technology has been widely recognized, but the large-scale penetration of Mini LED backlight into the application market requires further cost reduction in the supply chain, and an important link that affects the final cost includes the driver IC.

Technically, driver IC plays an important role, which is closely related to the dimming method, number of partitions and thin and light design of Mini LED backlight technology. Therefore, Mini LED driver IC manufacturers also have a long way to go.

Since its establishment, Huayuan Zhixin has relied on its core technology to actively develop AM/PM drive mode ICs and customized products. Among them, the AM drive method is regarded as the mainstream drive technology for Mini/Micro LED in the future, and Huayuan Zhixin has officially mass-produced an AM drive solution designed specifically for Mini LED in 2021. It is said that it will also release new AM drive products this year, proving that it has certain technical strength.

Although LED driver IC is only one of Huayuan Zhixin's major products, it can also be speculated that Huayuan Zhixin's technical strength is an important reason for its favor by Xiaomi. According to Wisdom Bud data, Huayuan Zhixin, which focuses on drive circuits, control circuits, display devices, distribution, driver circuits and other technical fields, has published 99 patent applications, with invention patents accounting for 84.85%.

In fact, since the founding of the company, Huayuan Zhixin has started operations in 2018 and 20 respectively.In 2020, it completed Pre-A and Series A financing, with financing funds of US$10 million and US$20 million respectively. The subsequent financing performance is also worth looking forward to.

From Xiaomi's perspective, this investment in Huayuan Zhixin is on the one hand a recognition of its semiconductor innovative research and development capabilities, and on the other hand it also shows to a certain extent the importance of Mini LED driver IC technology in the backlight and display industry chain.