"Senyi Quantum" Completes Two Rounds of Tens of Millions of Yuan in Financing in Succession after Achieving Mass Production of "Chokepoint" Materials for Optical Communication | Exclusive Report by 36Kr

Text | Zhang Bingbing

Editor | A Zhi

36Kr learned that Senyi Quantum Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Senyi Quantum") has successfully completed both the angel round and Pre - A round of financing, with a cumulative financing amount of tens of millions of yuan. The angel round was exclusively invested by Blueprint Venture Capital, and the Pre - A round was jointly invested by the industrial capitals of two leading listed companies in the industry. The funds will be used for capacity expansion, technological R & D iteration, and market development.

Founded in August 2022, Senyi Quantum focuses on the R & D and application of core materials for optical communication. It is one of the few high - tech enterprises in China capable of large - scale mass production of high - end materials such as magneto - optical functional crystals and special ceramics. Its core product, the Faraday rotator (FRG), is a key component of optical isolators and circulators in the optical communication field. It ensures the unidirectional transmission of light, avoids interference from reflected light to the system, and thus improves the stability and reliability of the optical communication system.

The core team of "Senyi Quantum" comes from universities such as Central South University and Xiamen University. Among them, there are 5 doctors, and the proportion of technical personnel exceeds 50%. Li Laichao, the chairman, holds 14 invention patents and is an entrepreneurial talent under the "Double Hundred Plan" in Xiamen. He said that the garnet structure is the underlying material structure of products such as the Faraday rotator. The team focuses on the research of material genes, realizes the growth of high - purity crystals through precise control of the quantum state of materials, and solves the "bottleneck" problem of domestic high - end materials.

Breakthrough in key materials to improve the performance of Faraday rotators

The AI wave has spawned a huge demand for computing power, driving the construction of ultra - large - scale computing centers. As a high - speed and efficient data transmission path, the optical communication network has become the cornerstone to support this huge computing demand. Among them, the optical module is the core component of the optical communication network and is crucial for achieving high - speed data transmission.

Optical communication uses light to transmit signals. However, during the signal transmission process, interference is not desired. The higher the signal density, the more precise the anti - interference requirements. Li Laichao pointed out that the higher - end the optical module, the more it needs a Faraday rotator for optical isolation.

In optical modules with a specification below 10G, due to the lower signal density and higher tolerance for interference, optical solutions are usually used for isolation. However, when the rate increases to above 10G, an isolator with a Faraday rotator as the core is required. It uses the Faraday effect and auxiliary optical path design to ensure the quality of light transmission.

The R & D and production of Faraday rotators are extremely difficult. The global market is mainly monopolized by two companies, II - VI in the United States and GRANOPT in Japan. Traditional garnet preparation processes have problems such as easy volatilization, difficult growth control, and prone to crystal defects. The industry has been seeking optimization solutions, and "Senyi Quantum" is committed to finding a breakthrough in materials.

"Our team specializes in the research of material genes, especially the garnet structure," Li Laichao further explained. The key to the research lies in the spatial structure of the material and how to precisely control the growth of microscopic crystals through macroscopic means: "The difficulty in FRG preparation is that the expansion coefficients of the substrate used in the heterogeneous liquid - phase epitaxy process and the grown material do not match. To reconcile this difference, a major theoretical breakthrough is required. We have our own underlying theoretical support and can solve this problem."

The technological breakthrough has solved the problem of "having" and "not having" and ensured the performance of the products. Li Laichao introduced that in some single - item performance indicators, "Senyi Quantum" has achieved a breakthrough. For example, at a wavelength of 1550nm, the insertion loss of "Senyi Quantum"'s products is 6% better than the international standard.

Improve mass - production stability to cope with the explosive growth of the market

The "amplification effect" is obvious in the preparation process of new materials. In the process from technological breakthrough to large - scale mass production, enterprises also need to overcome the challenges of engineering construction to ensure the consistency and stability of products.

Driven by market demand, in 2024, the production line of "Senyi Quantum" was established in Xiamen, and the production line was put into operation and delivered. However, Li Laichao admitted that there is still a gap between the product yield rate of "Senyi Quantum" and that of international giants.

In the manufacturing industry of new materials, the yield rate is an important indicator, which is directly related to the enterprise's cost and market competitiveness. Improving the yield rate means reducing waste and defective products, thereby reducing costs, enhancing market competitiveness, and promoting process improvement and innovation.

"We are working on 'bottleneck' materials. There are no domestic reference cases for all production equipment and testing and analysis equipment, and we need to build them ourselves," Li Laichao introduced. Improving the yield rate is an important goal for the next stage: "After a year of production exploration, we have accumulated a large amount of production practice data and can form some internal standards. Subsequently, we will make targeted breakthroughs to improve the yield rate, and capacity expansion will be easier."

In terms of market verification, the rapid development of AI has brought a surge in demand, which has in turn accelerated the product certification process. According to Li Laichao, the product certification time in the industry is usually about two years. However, in the face of the explosive growth of AI, a leading domestic manufacturer completed the certification of its products in about half a year. The brand effect has also accelerated the certification of customers in various fields, enabling "Senyi Quantum" to enter the mass - production stage in a very short time.

Regarding the future market forecast, Li Laichao believes that: "Currently, the domestic market is mainly dominated by 400G optical modules, while the foreign market is 800G. In the next generation, it may be 1.6T and 3.2T. This is an incremental market." According to the prediction of the optical communication market institution LightCounting, the market size of optical modules will exceed $20 billion in 2027.

The space for domestic substitution means market opportunities. Hou Dong, the managing partner of Blueprint Venture Capital, said: "The rapid iteration of the optical communication industry highly depends on the innovation of underlying material technology. With the explosive growth of large AI models, the demand for the optical communication industry has been further upgraded. As an indispensable component in optical communication, the Faraday rotator of the optical isolator is the 'heart' of the industrial chain, and domestic substitution is imminent."

In addition, relying on the underlying quantum crystal material technology platform, "Senyi Quantum" is also expanding its diversified product portfolio and deploying in fields such as lidar, industrial lasers, new energy, and high - end medical care, providing more room for future development.

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This article is from the WeChat public account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.