In December 2024, InnoScience officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with an offering price of HKD 30.86 per share. After its debut, the company’s market value soared to around HKD 30 billion.
Behind the company is a female Ph.D., Weiwei Luo. In 2017, she founded InnoScience and led the team to conquer the rare and challenging 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride (GaN) process technology. Seven years later, InnoScience boasts the world’s largest 8-inch silicon-based GaN wafer manufacturing plant.
A Female Ph.D. Leading the Way
InnoScience’s story begins with a female scientist. Weiwei Luo, a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Massey University in New Zealand, joined NASA’s research institute in 1999. Over the next 15 years, she rose from a senior project manager to the chief scientist. Luo has stated that her scientific research experience provided her with the courage to pursue entrepreneurship later on.
In 2015, Luo observed the rise of third-generation semiconductors and the growing enthusiasm for building "Chinese chips." She decided to return to China to start her own business. Despite numerous challenges, including having only one employee willing to join her and the lack of research funding, Luo's determination remained unshaken. In 2017, InnoScience was founded.
At that time, China’s third-generation semiconductor industry was still in its infancy, with most companies using 6-inch or even 4-inch processes. However, InnoScience chose to pursue the 8-inch process for chip production. Compared to 6-inch silicon-based GaN wafers, 8-inch wafers offer 80% more chip yield and reduce the unit cost by 30%. Yet, the difficulty of production increased exponentially, and few dared to attempt it in China.
However, Luo believed that experience should not become a bottleneck or barrier to development. "I’m on an unexpected path, and every project, every topic, was almost unexplored. If you think it's feasible... you will find a way to make it happen. There are very few things in this world that cannot be accomplished."
In the following years, Luo led her team to successfully develop the 8-inch silicon-based GaN process technology and quickly achieved mass production, filling the gap in this field in China. According to the prospectus, as of June 30, 2024, InnoScience’s semiconductor manufacturing base in Suzhou is the world’s largest 8-inch silicon-based GaN wafer production plant, with a monthly capacity of 12,500 wafers. According to Frost & Sullivan data, InnoScience ranked first globally in 2023 in terms of revenue among all GaN power semiconductor companies.
Seven Years of Entrepreneurship
Today, InnoScience’s business includes the design, development, and production of various GaN products, including discrete devices, integrated circuits, wafers, and modules. Its products are applied in consumer electronics fast-charging, LED lighting, data centers, industrial applications, and the new energy vehicle sector.
With the rapid development of industries like electric vehicles, data centers, new energy generation, and power grids, the market demand for more efficient and cost-effective power semiconductor products has surged. Gallium nitride, as a next-generation semiconductor material, is poised to lead a new round of energy revolution.
Luo has now reached the industry’s peak and has also stepped onto the IPO bell-ringing stage.
What Supports a Multi-Billion IPO?
According to the prospectus, InnoScience’s revenue for 2021-2023 was 68.215 million yuan, 136 million yuan, and 593 million yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 194.8%. Although the company did not disclose its customer names, it serves leading semiconductor manufacturing service providers, high-tech companies specializing in renewable energy technology, and first-tier suppliers of automotive OEMs.
In 2023, InnoScience’s largest customer contributed 190 million yuan in revenue, accounting for 32.1% of the total revenue. The main products sold to this customer were power modules for lithium battery formation equipment.
In the prospectus, InnoScience describes its largest customer as "Customer G, registered in Fujian in 2011 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext Board. It is a leading battery manufacturer specializing in the research, production, and sales of power battery systems for electric vehicles and energy storage systems." This description points directly to the battery giant CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited).
InnoScience’s Financing Journey
The prospectus shows that InnoScience received early support from local industry funds such as Suzhou Zhanyi, China Merchants Bank No. 1, China Merchants Co-Win, Wujiang Industry Investment, and Shenzhen Venture Capital.
In 2018, InnoScience secured strategic investments from Ningbo Jiake Investment, Jiaxing Jinhua Investment, and Zhuhai Venture Capital. The following year, InnoScience completed a B-round financing of 1.5 billion yuan, with investors including Zhongtian Huifu, Haoyuan Investment, National Venture Capital, Langma Feng Venture Capital, Huaye Tiancheng, and China Merchants International.
In 2021, InnoScience announced the completion of 1.418 billion yuan in C-round financing, with new investors such as Shenzhen Gongchuang Future, Zibo Tianhui Hongxin, Suzhou Qijing Investment, and Xiamen Huaye Qirong.
By 2022, InnoScience completed D-round financing totaling 2.609 billion yuan, led by TiXin Capital, with participation from YiDa Capital, Haitong Innovation, Sino-Belgium Fund, SAIF Partners, and others.
In April of this year, InnoScience’s E-round financing raised 650 million yuan from Wuhan Gaoke and Dongfang Fuxing. The prospectus shows that InnoScience’s total financing has surpassed 6 billion yuan.
Thus, we once again witness a case of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) supporting the growth of a Chinese technology company.
