Home appliance giants engage in in - depth cooperation, and this domestic intelligent sensor chip manufacturer secures tens of millions in seed - round financing | Exclusive from 36Kr
Text | Lin Qingqing
Editor | Yuan Silai
36Kr learned that recently, "SoundMEMS", a supplier of intelligent sensing chips and intelligent perception solutions, has completed a seed - round financing of tens of millions of yuan. This round of investment was led by Xiamen High - tech Investment, followed by Changzhou Qitai and Yuanke Innovation Fund. The funds from this round will be mainly invested in the mass - production R & D, process optimization, and team expansion of 8×8, 16×16, and 32×32 array thermal sensing chips.
The company "SoundMEMS" was established in 2021, with its headquarters in Changzhou and a R & D center in Shanghai. The core team consists of experts with more than ten years of R & D experience in MEMS micro - electro - mechanical systems and IC integrated circuits, covering the entire chain of chip design, sensor R & D, wafer process, and packaging testing.
The establishment of "SoundMEMS" started with the explosive demand for temperature - measuring sensors in the early stage of the pandemic in 2020. At that time, the single - point temperature - measuring technology quickly entered a red - ocean competition. Meanwhile, domestic array thermal sensors were completely dependent on imports from Europe, which were expensive and had poor adaptability, making it difficult to meet the large - scale application needs of home appliance manufacturers.
Zhou Xiaofeng, the founder of "SoundMEMS", told 36Kr that the team chose to focus on array thermal sensors with higher technical thresholds. By integrating CMOS and MEMS processes through the SENSChip™ technology platform, they completed the single - chip integration of integrated circuit IC and MEMS sensors, breaking the long - standing situation of "separation of CMOS/MEMS processes" in China.
Currently, it is understood that its flagship product, the THERMOChip series, has achieved mass - production tape - out of the 8×8 array. The 16×16 and 32×32 arrays are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025. It can provide high - resolution thermal sensing data with a 54° field of view and support customization, and a temperature - measuring range from - 20°C to 350°C. The cost of the module is more than 50% lower than that of imported products. In addition, Zhou Xiaofeng told 36Kr that the company's pioneering SENSChip™ technology platform has successfully filled the long - standing gap in IC - MEMS single - chip integration in China, becoming a key breakthrough in the localization of array thermal sensors.
In terms of application scenarios, the THERMOChip series has carried out in - depth cooperation with several leading home appliance manufacturers. For example, in air conditioners, it can locate the human body through pixel - level thermal sensing to achieve intelligent air - supply modes such as "avoiding people with wind" or "chasing people with wind", avoiding the privacy disputes of traditional camera solutions; in intelligent hair dryers, a thermal sensing array is embedded to monitor the temperature distribution of the user's head in real - time, automatically identify high - temperature risks, and adjust the hot - air temperature in a coordinated manner; in microwave ovens, the heating power is dynamically adjusted according to the temperature distribution on the food surface to improve energy efficiency and uniformity.
Zhou Xiaofeng emphasized that the core advantage of SoundMEMS lies not only in technological breakthroughs but also in the "close - fitting" customized development ability. "European manufacturers provide standardized modules, while we will jointly define the scenario requirements with customers. For example, the intelligent hair dryer solution needs to combine algorithms to determine the comfortable temperature curve, and this kind of in - depth cooperation is difficult for overseas enterprises to achieve."
In terms of market strategy, "SoundMEMS" is trying to expand the market with cost advantages. Zhou Xiaofeng compared it with the development process of WiFi modules. "Ten years ago, the unit price of WiFi modules was 50 yuan, and the annual installation volume was only 500,000 units; now the cost has dropped to 10 yuan, and the annual installation demand exceeds 100 million units. Once sensors reach a 'rock - bottom price', the popularization of smart home appliances will no longer be limited by cost." To cope with potential competition after technological breakthroughs, the company independently controls key process links, jointly builds customized production lines with leading wafer factories, and plans to consolidate the technological barrier through patent layout (9 invention patents have been applied for).
Meanwhile, starting this year, "SoundMEMS" will launch the FLOWChip™ series of flow sensing chips and the GASChip™ series of gas sensing chips to expand incremental markets such as smart cars, industrial control, and consumer electronics.
When talking about industry trends, Zhou Xiaofeng believes that sensors are the core interface connecting the physical world and the digital world, and will evolve towards miniaturization, integration, and intelligence in the future. MEMS technology will also continue to be miniaturized to meet the needs of consumer electronics; in the future, sensors will be integrated with algorithm chips to achieve "integration of sensing and computing"; from single data collection to scenario - based decision - making, the output will directly meet the needs. "Our goal is not only to replace imports but also to make sensors a standard configuration for home appliances like WiFi modules through extreme cost - performance. When each room is equipped with a thermal sensing array, intelligence will truly penetrate into life."