Nano-Core Chip
Category: AI Chips / Semiconductors
Chinese AI inference-chip company developing 3D compute-in-memory chips for edge and cloud inference. Nano-Core Chip was founded in 2021. Based in Hangzhou, China. Team size: 101-500. Total funding raised: $420.0M. Latest round: Series C. Key investors include China Jianyin Investment, Hangzhou Capital, Kaitai Capital, Xiaochi Capital, Yantai Finance, SDIC Taikang, Lingyang Fund, Advantage Capital, Yuanhao Investment, Jinpu Investment, Sunshine Life, Oriza Puhua.
- Founded
- 2021
- Headquarters
- Hangzhou, China
- Team size
- 101-500
- Total funding
- $420.0M
Value proposition
It targets lower data-movement cost, power use, and inference cost by combining compute-in-memory with 3D near-memory computing.
Products and solutions
LP-CIM edge-chip series, PCIe-CIM inference-chip series, AI chips, boards, and Token Factory full-stack solutions.
Unique value
Its proprietary 3D-CIM architecture combines DRAM 3D near-memory computing, SRAM compute-in-memory, and heterogeneous RISC-V compute.
Target customer
AI phone, AI PC, edge-device, robotics, server, and cloud-inference vendors.
Industries served
Consumer electronics, AI PCs, cloud inference, AI infrastructure, embodied robotics, automotive edge inference.
Technology advantage
The company reports tape-out test results showing SRAM compute-in-memory achieves 4-6x compute-density and 5-10x energy-efficiency improvements versus von Neumann architectures. These are company-reported results without disclosed full benchmark conditions.
How they differentiate
Nano-Core Chip positions its 3D-CIM approach around DRAM near-memory computing, SRAM compute-in-memory, and RISC-V heterogeneous computing across edge and cloud inference. Houmo.AI uses SRAM compute-in-memory, while Witin targets low-power terminal inference using Flash in-memory computing.
Main competitors
Houmo.AI, Witin Technology, E-CHIP Technology.
Key partnerships
The company says it is working with storage manufacturers, foundation-model companies, phone and PC makers, server and cloud-service companies, and controller-chip vendors. Named strategic investors include Huaqin Technology, Meig Smart Technology, GigaDevice, and BIWIN Storage.
Major milestones
Founded in 2021 and incubated by the PKU Institute of Information Technology, Zhejiang. Completed Angel financing in 2021, A/A+ financing in 2022, RMB 1B C1 financing in September 2026, and over RMB 1B C2 financing in October 2026. Its first three inference chips have taped out, named customer testing and volume orders remain undisclosed.
Growth metrics
The company states that it has hundreds of researchers and engineers. It says its first three LP-CIM and PCIe-CIM chips have taped out and are planned for customer testing in early 2027.
Market positioning
Chinese high-efficiency AI-inference chip supplier, positioned between edge AI devices and cloud inference infrastructure.
Geographic focus
China, with a domestic AI-compute and semiconductor-supply-chain focus.
Latest news about Nano-Core Chip
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Official website: https://www.nanocorechip.com/