A CVC was founded in Shanghai.

A CVC has officially made its debut.

Recently, Shanghai Zhiwei Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhiwei Capital") established its first Zhiwei Peak - Climbing Fund in the Lingang New Area of Shanghai. The fund has a scale of 1.5 billion yuan and will focus on the semiconductor, pan - semiconductor, and strategic emerging fields, using capital to support the development of industries and technological innovation.

The list of LPs has emerged. Companies such as AMEC, Guojun Innovation Investment, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group, and Futeng Capital, as investors in the Zhiwei Peak - Climbing Fund, signed investment agreements with Zhiwei Capital.

AMEC takes the lead in establishing a CVC fund worth 1.5 billion

According to investment circles, Zhiwei Capital is an investment platform strategically initiated and co - funded by AMEC Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "AMEC"). The establishment of this fund aims to build an ecological investment system covering the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor equipment industry chain through the dual - wheel drive of "industry + capital".

Founded in Shanghai in 2004, AMEC was founded by Yin Zhiyao, an alumnus of Peking University. It promoted the development of domestic etching machines from scratch and has become the leader in advanced - process semiconductor etching equipment. It was listed on the STAR Market in 2019 as one of the first batch of listed companies, with a latest market value of nearly 200 billion yuan.

At the establishment ceremony, Dr. Yin Zhiyao, the chairman and general manager of AMEC, said that the launch of the first Zhiwei Peak - Climbing Fund is not only a key move in the capital field of AMEC's three - dimensional development strategy but also a new starting point for the coordinated development of the Chinese semiconductor industry ecosystem. Relying on the professional investment management capabilities of Zhiwei Capital, AMEC will cooperate with Zhiwei Capital to focus on key sectors of the industry and support collaborative innovation in the industrial chain. The name "Peak - Climbing" of Zhiwei Capital means to climb the "Mount Everest" of technology and build the "peak" of the industry together with everyone.

Yuan Guohua, the Party secretary and chairman of Shanghai State - owned Investment Corporation, revealed that Shanghai State - owned Investment Corporation's in - depth participation in the first Peak - Climbing Fund of Zhiwei Capital is a new starting point for the co - construction of the industrial ecosystem in the semiconductor and pan - semiconductor sectors. It also continues the leading and amplifying role of state - owned capital in the development of leading industries such as integrated circuits and provides important support for the semiconductor industry, which is technology - intensive and has a long cycle, in terms of self - controllability and ecosystem co - construction.

At the ceremony, companies such as AMEC, Guojun Innovation Investment, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group, and Futeng Capital, as investors in the Zhiwei Peak - Climbing Fund, signed investment agreements with Zhiwei Capital.

In addition, Zhiwei Capital signed strategic cooperation agreements on - site with China Insurance Investment Co., Ltd., Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group, Guotai Haitong, CITIC Securities, and CICC. All parties will carry out multi - level cooperation in project industrial empowerment and ecosystem co - construction in the future and jointly build a collaborative investment ecosystem covering the entire semiconductor chain.

"From the industry, back to the industry", the rise of CVC

Looking around, CVC is becoming an active force in the venture capital circle.

The so - called CVC, or corporate venture capital, mainly uses the company's existing resources and professional knowledge for strategic investment. Compared with traditional VCs, it focuses more on strategic layout around its own business, consolidates its industry position through investment incubation, mergers and acquisitions, etc., and achieves more diversified development.

With highly suitable scenario applications and channel resources, CVC is more patient and flexible and is suitable for investing in innovative projects with long R & D cycles and high risks. Therefore, in recent years, CVC has become a popular investment target for many LPs.

Against this background, Shanghai is making great efforts in CVC -

Back in January 2024, Shanghai issued the "Several Measures to Further Promote the High - quality Development of the Equity Investment Industry in Shanghai", clearly proposing to "attract CVC funds to develop in Shanghai", supporting leading enterprises in the industry chain to set up independent managers for professional operations, and encouraging government - guided funds, mother funds, and municipal state - owned assets to increase their investment in CVC funds.

During the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference not long ago, the selection of the third batch of sub - funds of Shanghai's three leading industry mother funds was officially launched, focusing on supporting the three leading industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence. According to the announcement, this selection encourages cooperation with leading enterprises in the three leading industries that meet Shanghai's key layout directions to establish funds. Shanghai State - owned Investment Leading Fund will cooperate deeply with leading enterprises in the industrial chain through a market - oriented selection mechanism and increase the layout of CVC funds.

Almost at the same time, the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence CVC Fund, initiated by Shanghai State - owned Investment Corporation, Shanghai Yidian Group, and Jieyue Xingchen, was officially established, covering three elements: models, corpora, and computing power, with a first - phase total scale of 3 billion yuan.

The reason behind this is easy to understand. With four trillion - level industrial clusters, Shanghai is proactively laying out 10 key industrial chains, including integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine, and accelerating the development of three leading industries: integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence. The scale of the three leading industries has reached 1.8 trillion yuan.

"From the industry, back to the industry." Just as the Chinese semiconductor industry has shifted from independent development to ecological win - win cooperation, more and more entrepreneurs realize that venture capital is crucial for an enterprise to integrate into the industrial chain and understand the trends of technological development.

This is a long - term industrial battle.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment World" (ID: pedaily2012), author: Yu Mengying, published by 36Kr with authorization.