36Kr Exclusive | Songshan Lake Team Raises Tens of Millions in Funding, Breaking Japanese Monopoly on Industrial Lenses
Author: Ou Xue
Editor: Yuan Silai
Yingke learned that Aji Vision Technology (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Aji Vision"), a developer of high - end industrial lenses, recently completed an angel - round financing of tens of millions of yuan. The investment was jointly made by Dongguan Science and Technology Innovation, Shenzhen Guarantee Venture Capital, Songhe Capital, and Linrun Group, with DT Capital serving as the financial advisor for this round of financing. The funds from this round of financing will be used for team expansion, production capacity expansion, R & D support, and market development to accelerate the process of domestic substitution of high - end industrial lenses.
Aji Vision was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in Songshan Lake, Dongguan. In 2025, Wu Xuansheng joined Aji Vision. Wu Xuansheng once served as the chairman and general manager of the Chinese region of Moritex, a leading Japanese industrial lens company, responsible for the technical team and operation management. He also worked at Jabil, a Fortune 500 company, European enterprise XAL, and Delta Electronics, with over a decade of experience in the optical industry.
Since Wu Xuansheng joined Aji Vision, the company's main business direction has focused on the R & D and process breakthroughs of mid - to high - end products. Currently, Aji Vision's core team has the capabilities of complete optical design, precision machining, and sales channels. Its products cover a series of high - magnification and high - definition telecentric lenses, large - format telecentric and line - scan lenses, and high - magnification and ultra - high - definition wafer inspection lenses.
Yingke learned that industrial lenses are the core optical components of machine vision systems. Currently, the global high - end industrial lens market has long been monopolized by brands such as Moritex and VS Technology from Japan and Carl Zeiss from Germany. According to industry estimates, in the core field of semiconductor equipment, the domestic substitution rate is still less than 10%.
With the acceleration of the domestic substitution of semiconductor equipment, the window for the substitution of core optical components has opened. Taking the three types of equipment that Aji Vision focuses on - dicing saws, die bonders, and probe stations as an example, according to the company's estimates, the annual domestic market scale of the supporting high - end lenses exceeds 2 billion yuan and maintains an annual compound growth rate of over 15%.
High - precision lens for dicing saw (Source: Company)
Aji Vision has currently achieved large - scale substitution of the lenses for the above three types of equipment. Its TKS series of probe station lenses have achieved an integration accuracy of 0.8 microns, on par with international brands. The AKY series of high - magnification lenses have been applied to optical module eutectic equipment and have replaced the products of Japanese leading brands in leading dicing saw companies.
Wu Xuansheng told Yingke that after joining Aji Vision to start a business, he led the team to focus on the R & D and process breakthroughs of domestic substitution products. Currently, the team has mastered product design and core processes such as multi - optical path fusion, miniaturization integration, and high - temperature - resistant design, and has reached over 90% of the level of international first - tier brands in key performance indicators. The high - end lens products developed in 2025 have completed small - batch deliveries. The company expects to achieve tens of millions of yuan in revenue this year and plans to double its revenue every year in the next three years.
In the market, Aji Vision has entered into cooperation with leading companies in the optical module, die bonder, and new energy industries such as Suzhou Lieqi Intelligence and Guihua Intelligence.
Lens module for optical module (Source: Company)
In the future, the company will continue to promote the serial development of probe station lenses and launch modular products around advanced packaging and front - end inspection. The company is also collaborating with other domestic enterprises to develop high - magnification microscope objectives and infrared - band lenses, further extending to the forefront of high - end optics.
We conducted an interview with Wu Xuansheng to discuss his views on the technical route and industry development.
The following is an excerpt from the interview:
Yingke: Compared with overseas brands, where does the core technical difference of Aji Vision lie?
Wu Xuansheng: The high - end nature of overseas products is mainly reflected in high integration, miniaturization, multi - optical path fusion, while also taking into account high temperature resistance and high precision. Currently, among the domestic solutions we have seen, there is no one that can compete with foreign products. We contacted five or six leading equipment companies, and their unified feedback was that, except for us, they hadn't found any domestic company that could come close to Japanese brands.
We have achieved an accuracy of 0.8 microns in probe station lenses, on par with international brands. In the field of high - magnification non - objective lenses, customers have feedback that we are currently the only domestic brand that can fully compete with Moritex and VST from Japan. We can't say 100%, but we are at least over 90% of their level.
Yingke: How is the company's domestic substitution path specifically implemented?
Wu Xuansheng: We are very clear that we are focusing on domestic substitution. For example, in the dicing saw market, DISCO from Japan accounts for 70% of the global market; in the probe station market, Tokyo Electron and Tokyo Seimitsu together account for over 70%. In the past, large domestic manufacturers preferred to use foreign brands, but now they are fully supporting domestic equipment manufacturers to make substitutions, and naturally, the optical modules also need to be replaced.
We have successfully replaced Japanese brands in the supply chain of a leading company in the die bonder field. In the dicing saw field, we have supplied products in large quantities to leading domestic dicing saw companies. For probe stations, two listed companies have signed confidentiality agreements with us, and we have made small - batch deliveries. We are also in contact with five other companies.
Yingke: How long is the window period for the domestic substitution of high - end industrial lenses?
Wu Xuansheng: This window period will not be short. On the one hand, the technical barriers are indeed high, and capabilities such as multi - optical path fusion, miniaturization, and high - temperature resistance require long - term accumulation. On the other hand, the verification period for optical components by equipment manufacturers and end - users is very long, and once the verification is passed, the replacement cost is also high.
Therefore, the first - mover advantage is very important. What we need to do now is to quickly complete our product series, increase our production capacity, and lock in all the leading customers within the window period. We believe that the next three to five years will be the critical stage for domestic substitution.
Views from investors:
Wang Peipei, an investment manager in the Angel Investment Department of Dongguan Science and Technology Innovation Group, said: This investment is an important measure for Dongguan Science and Technology Innovation Group to implement the strategy of "science and technology innovation + advanced manufacturing" and layout the "8 + 8+4" strategic emerging industries. We will leverage the advantages of the municipal state - owned capital platform, link industrial resources, policy support, and the park ecosystem to provide full - cycle empowerment for Aji Vision in terms of technology R & D, production capacity expansion, market development, and industrial chain collaboration, and accelerate the large - scale implementation of core products.
In the future, we will continue to invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - technology projects. We will join hands with Aji Vision and other partners to fill the gaps in the high - end optical industrial chain, help Dongguan build a high - ground for the semiconductor and intelligent manufacturing industries, and contribute scientific and technological innovation power to the development of new - quality productivity in the Greater Bay Area.
Wang Yang, the executive partner of Songhe Chuangzhi Fund and the management partner of Songhe Capital, said: Aji Vision is an important investment in the field of industrial machine vision for us. We have seen that driven by both intelligent manufacturing and domestic substitution, high - precision and high - speed machine vision solutions are becoming the "key eyes" for industrial upgrading. Aji Vision's core team has profound capabilities in the integration of optics, algorithms, and processes. Its self - developed software - hardware integrated platform has been verified in high - end manufacturing scenarios such as semiconductors (dicing saws, die/ eutectic bonders, probe stations) and new energy, demonstrating excellent stability and cost advantages. We believe that they not only "see", but also "insight" and "solve", and are important enablers for promoting the leap of the manufacturing industry towards refinement and intelligence. We look forward to a long - term partnership with them to jointly contribute to the construction of a new ecosystem for high - end manufacturing in China.
Liu Xueyan, an investment manager at Shenzhen Guarantee Venture Capital, said: As the domestic substitution rate of semiconductor equipment in China continues to increase, the demand for core components such as lenses in domestic packaging and testing equipment will continue to grow. As a professional domestic high - end industrial lens manufacturer, Aji Vision has been recognized and repurchased by large customers in the semiconductor and pan - semiconductor fields, with continuous growth in orders and strong domestic substitution capabilities.
Shenzhen Guarantee Venture Capital will also continue to provide diversified empowerment for Aji Vision and more hard - technology enterprises, and accompany the enterprises through the critical stage from technological breakthrough to large - scale application.
Peng Jinlong, the president of Linrun Group Co., Ltd. and the executive partner of Yangming Investment, said: Our team has long been deeply involved in industrial park operation, technology enterprise incubator management, and early - stage investment, and has successfully invested in and incubated multiple start - up projects. When judging the investment potential of a project, we mainly focus on four dimensions: the track space, technical barriers, the quality of the founding team, and the real recognition of the product by market - oriented customers. After detailed research, Aji Vision meets our investment logic in all four dimensions and has the characteristics of low risk and high growth.
In this round of financing, Aji Vision will mainly use the funds for capital increase and production expansion and plans to move into the industrial park operated by our team to accelerate the industrialization process. We look forward to providing all - around resource support and professional empowerment to help Aji Vision achieve leap - forward development.
Liu Yicong, a partner at DT Capital, said: Wu Xuansheng, the chairman of Aji Vision, is a very excellent and mature entrepreneur. He has both the enterprising and innovative spirit of Chinese entrepreneurs and the lean management and craftsmanship of Japanese enterprises. The high - end industrial optical industry has high technical barriers, and Aji Vision has a significant first - mover advantage in domestic substitution. DT Capital will continue to accompany and serve the growth of Aji Vision.