SK Hynix

SK Hynix is a prominent global semiconductor supplier, specializing in the production of DRAM and NAND flash memory, as well as System ICs, including CMOS Image Sensors. Established in 1984 with the pilot production of Korea's first 16Kb SRAM, the company has consistently led the industry by developing smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient semiconductor technologies. Approximately 65%-70% of its revenue is generated from DRAM, where it holds a significant market share of around 28%, making it the second-largest supplier worldwide. Additionally, SK Hynix ranks as the fifth-largest supplier of NAND flash memory, contributing about 25%-30% of its revenue and capturing approximately 19% of the global market. In 2012, SK Telecom, South Korea's largest telecom carrier, became the largest shareholder, owning 20% of SK Hynix's shares.

Heejin Chung

Head of Venture Investment

24 past transactions

Eliyan

Series B in 2024
Eliyan specializes in developing advanced semiconductor solutions, particularly focusing on chiplet interconnect technology designed to enhance AI performance. The company comprises a team of experienced PHY designers and chip architects who have successfully created multiple generations of semiconductor products. Eliyan's innovative technology addresses the critical challenge of the memory wall, significantly improving performance for high-performance computing applications, ranging from desktops to data centers. By utilizing standard organic chip packaging, Eliyan's Interconnect technology achieves performance levels comparable to more complex packaging solutions, enabling the realization of advanced chiplet systems at a reduced total cost of ownership. This approach allows for increased core counts, improved computing performance, and better test coverage without the complications associated with sophisticated packaging methods.

Pliops

Series D in 2022
Pliops Ltd, established in 2017 and located in Ramat Gan, Israel, specializes in developing advanced cloud storage solutions aimed at addressing the challenges posed by the rapid growth of data and complex application workloads. The company's flagship product, the Pliops Extreme Data Processor (XDP), is designed to enhance storage efficiency and performance by consolidating multiple inefficient layers into a single, high-speed device. This innovation significantly accelerates data processing for applications such as databases, analytics, and machine learning while reducing infrastructure costs. By simplifying the management of flash storage and improving data access speed, Pliops enables cloud and enterprise data centers to meet the increasing demands of modern applications, including AI, big data analytics, and IoT, with greater reliability and efficiency.

NeuReality

Series A in 2022
NeuReality is a semiconductor start-up focused on creating AI-as-a-service infrastructure to meet the demands of AI deployment across cloud, edge, and fog systems. The company specializes in purpose-built AI-centric architecture, offering a server-on-chip solution that reconfigures inference technologies like computer vision, natural language processing, and recommendation engines. This innovative approach simplifies the implementation of these technologies for companies that may lack extensive technical expertise. By replacing traditional CPU-centric models with its advanced architecture, NeuReality enables clients to reduce both costs and energy consumption, making AI more accessible and efficient for a broader range of users.

d-Matrix

Series A in 2022
D-Matrix is a technology company focused on developing a computing platform aimed at enhancing artificial intelligence inferencing workloads in data centers. The company is dedicated to creating an innovative, brain-inspired AI compute engine that addresses a wide range of inferencing tasks within the growing cloud and edge infrastructure markets. By employing an in-memory computing approach, D-Matrix seeks to improve the efficiency of memory-compute integration through advanced mixed-signal and digital signal processing techniques. This platform is particularly designed to support generative artificial intelligence applications and large language models, thereby providing clients with enhanced computational capabilities.

Elastics.cloud

Corporate Round in 2022
Elastics.cloud, Inc. is a Smart Interconnect technology company focused on enabling efficient and performant architectures to create flexible, scalable, low latency composable systems. The company provides silicon, hardware, and software which leverages the Compute Express Link (CXL) interconnect standard to provide high-performance connectivity to a broad ecosystem of components.

Movellus

Series B in 2022
Movellus, Inc. is a company that specializes in designing and manufacturing mixed-signal semiconductors tailored for the semiconductor market. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Jose, California, with additional offices in Silicon Valley, Ann Arbor, and Toronto, Movellus offers a range of products including clock generators, phase-locked loops (PLLs), delay-locked loops (DLLs), programmable oscillators, and low-dropout regulators (LDOs). The company focuses on developing ultra-low power analog intellectual properties that are process portable and optimized for specific designs. Movellus aims to address clock distribution challenges in high-performance and energy-efficient chips, providing solutions that enhance system-on-chip (SoC) performance while minimizing power consumption. Its products cater to semiconductor and systems companies across various sectors, including artificial intelligence, networking, and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Key Foundry

Acquisition in 2021
Key Foundry is the only dedicated semiconductor foundry company in South Korea established by the foundry business division.

GigaIO

Series B in 2021
GigaIO, based in Carlsbad, California, specializes in network architecture and connectivity technology aimed at modernizing interconnect fabric architecture. The company offers a universal dynamic infrastructure fabric known as FabreX™, which utilizes industry-standard PCI Express and upcoming CXL technology to overcome the limitations of traditional server architectures. By integrating computing, storage, and communication within a single-system cluster fabric, GigaIO enables data centers to scale performance efficiently, allowing existing investments to adapt as workloads evolve. This approach democratizes artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) architectures, providing cloud-like elasticity at a significantly lower total cost of ownership.

The Ferroelectric Memory Company

Series B in 2020
Ferroelectric Memory Company (FMC) specializes in the development of advanced memory solutions utilizing ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFET), which are characterized by their ultra-low power consumption, high performance, and exceptional temperature stability. The company focuses on non-volatile storage technologies based on ferroelectric hafnium oxide (FE-HfO2), which allows for significant scaling of transistors from 65nm to 28nm and smaller. FMC’s innovations enable substantial reductions in system costs and energy consumption, achieving approximately 80% cost savings, a factor of 1000 reduction in per-bit write energy, and a 70% increase in overall system performance. Its technology is particularly well-suited for integration into artificial intelligence applications and is compatible with cutting-edge processes like 22nm FDSOI and 1X nm FinFET, facilitating its adoption in the latest chip designs. Based in Dresden, Germany, FMC has received support from the EXIST Forschungstransfer program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which underscores its commitment to advancing memory technology.

Intel NAND Memory Business

Acquisition in 2020
Intel NAND Memory Business handles manufacturing and design patents of flash-memory products. Intel NAND Memory Business includes the NAND SSD, the NAND component, and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China. Intel NAND Memory Business was acquired by SK hynix for US $9 billion.

Gauss Labs

Corporate Round in 2020
Gauss Labs is focused on transforming the manufacturing sector through advanced industrial artificial intelligence systems. The company develops software products that harness extensive machine-generated data to provide AI-driven process monitoring solutions. Its offerings are particularly aimed at enhancing manufacturing efficiency in industries such as semiconductor, automotive, battery, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. By implementing advanced process control, statistical process control, and recipe management systems, Gauss Labs enables manufacturers to gain comprehensive visibility into their production lines. This approach helps businesses make more informed decisions and optimize their operations, thereby fostering a smarter and more efficient manufacturing environment.

SiFive

Series E in 2020
SiFive, Inc. is a semiconductor company that specializes in designing and manufacturing chips, particularly focusing on RISC-V architecture. Established in 2015 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, with additional offices in locations such as Oregon, Texas, India, Taiwan, and France, SiFive provides a range of products including multi-core application processors, embedded microcontrollers, and system-on-chip solutions tailored for various applications such as IoT and wearables. The company emphasizes the use of open-source technology to enable faster and more cost-effective hardware development. By offering software development kits, toolchains, and customized silicon products, SiFive aims to democratize access to advanced semiconductor solutions, accelerating innovation for businesses of all sizes.

MemVerge

Series B in 2020
MemVerge specializes in memory storage convergence software that integrates memory and storage to enhance data processing capabilities. The company's innovative platform utilizes proprietary Distributed Memory Objects (DMO) technology, creating a logical convergence layer that leverages Intel's Optane DC persistent memory. This technology allows data-intensive workloads, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, and IoT applications, to operate at memory speed, ensuring data consistency across various systems. By enabling enterprises to manage both small and large files efficiently, MemVerge empowers organizations to extract insights from their data more effectively.

Inpria

Series C in 2020
Inpria Corporation is a company based in Corvallis, Oregon, that specializes in the design, development, and manufacturing of EUV metal oxide photoresists for the semiconductor industry. Founded in 2007, Inpria is recognized for its innovative approach to extending semiconductor lithography through inorganic photoresists and thin films for nanoscale patterning. The company's patented photo-condensed molecular oxides allow for the direct deposition of atomically smooth and dense metal oxide films from solution, which can be photopatterned for advanced applications. Inpria's photoresists are meticulously designed to meet rigorous industry specifications, addressing key factors such as resolution, sensitivity, and line width roughness, while integrating seamlessly into manufacturing processes. This holistic approach provides customers with a comprehensive solution that includes photoresists, developers, and related materials.

Horizon Robotics

Series B in 2019
Horizon Robotics is a prominent provider of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving solutions specifically designed for passenger vehicles. The company develops proprietary software and hardware that integrate advanced algorithms and specialized processing capabilities. These technologies form the foundation for enhanced driving automation, aiming to improve both safety and the overall experience for drivers and passengers. By focusing on innovative solutions, Horizon Robotics plays a key role in the evolution of assisted and autonomous driving.

ZettaStone

Angel Round in 2018
Zettastone specializes in solid-state storage technology utilizing flash memory chips. The company develops solid-state drives (SSDs) to cater to various sectors, including personal computer manufacturers, data centers, and industrial control fields. Their solutions are designed to enhance performance and efficiency, addressing the needs of customers in diverse industries such as transportation, medical treatment, telecommunications, and industrial automation. Through innovative technology, Zettastone aims to provide faster and more reliable storage solutions that meet the evolving demands of modern data management.

TidalScale

Series B in 2018
TidalScale, Inc. develops software that allows multiple commodity hardware servers to operate as a single unified virtual machine. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Campbell, California, with additional offices in Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan, TidalScale specializes in scale-up computing and resource architecture. Its software-defined servers enable organizations to pool and deploy computing resources more efficiently, providing in-memory performance suitable for big data workloads, including applications like Oracle database and SAP HANA. TidalScale's solutions are designed to be self-optimizing and compatible with various applications and operating systems, allowing users to configure virtual servers of different sizes without requiring software changes.

Starblaze

Series C in 2018
Starblaze is a manufacturer of consumer and enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) master chips, specializing in high-performance and low-power NVMe solutions. The company has developed an advanced NVMe SSD master controller and firmware, which are now mass-produced and utilized by several well-known brands in their high-performance SSD offerings. Starblaze offers a range of solutions, including the STAR1200C for high-performance, low-power consumption; OC SSD for data centers utilizing a customized Open-Channel interface; STAR1200E for low-power, high-performance enterprise applications; and DeepSSD products that leverage AI storage control for key-value storage needs in monitoring applications. Their technology supports data-intensive programs, enhancing the capability of computer systems for users.

Reno Sub Systems

Series C in 2017
Reno Sub-Systems, to our longtime semiconductor friends, colleagues and customers around the world. The founding of Reno has been a very gratifying challenge which has brought together many of the best and brightest minds in the field of Semiconductor Process Equipment Instrumentation. At a time when industry consolidation and the tightening of venture capital poses a serious threat to new business formation, the founders of Reno have demonstrated the incredible power of inventing world-class technologies to enable next generation processes. With three brand new and highly disruptive technologies, we are creating a paradigm shift in the industry. At Reno, we believe there is unlimited potential for new discoveries and innovative thinking. As we move forward into the 450mm era, Reno stands at the summit of semiconductor process control equipment technology, ready to set the standards for product performance, worldwide customer support and customer satisfaction.

Exnodes

Seed Round in 2016
Exnodes Inc. designs and develops advanced computational imaging and machine learning technologies aimed at detecting, identifying, and analyzing nanoscale defects in semiconductor fabrication. Founded in 2014 and based in Fremont, California, the company specializes in modern sensors, optics, and high-speed digital processing. Its innovative approach utilizes computational parallel inspection (CPI) to achieve an 8.9 nanometer sensitivity breakthrough with visible light, allowing for efficient unpatterned wafer inspection without the limitations of traditional methods. This technology enables the rapid detection of defects at a rate of 120 wafers per hour, significantly improving fabrication yields while conserving resources. Exnodes collaborates with leading semiconductor companies and innovators to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of nanoscale defect detection in the industry.

NetSpeed Systems

Series C in 2016
NetSpeed Systems specializes in providing scalable Network-on-Chip (NoC) intellectual property (IP) to System-on-Chip (SoC) designers across various markets, including mobile devices and high-performance computing. Founded in 2011, the company focuses on delivering significant time-to-market advantages through a system-level approach, extensive user-driven automation, and advanced algorithms. Its NoC IP solutions streamline the integration process for architects and designers, enabling them to optimize power, performance, and area in their designs. Led by experienced executives from the semiconductor and networking sectors, NetSpeed Systems is supported by prominent investors from Silicon Valley.

Stratio

Series A in 2015
Stratio, Inc. is a technology company based in Palo Alto, California, founded in 2013 with the aim of making infrared sensing accessible to a broader market. The company designs, develops, and manufactures advanced infrared technologies, including LinkSquare, a portable spectrometer, and BeyonSense, the first smartphone-compatible shortwave infrared camera. Stratio's innovative germanium-based shortwave infrared sensors facilitate the creation of versatile and affordable infrared devices. Their products are utilized globally by partners and customers to enhance process efficiency, combat counterfeiting, ensure food safety, and support precision agriculture. Stratio is also focused on future innovations in infrared sensing, with plans to develop Hyper-Spectral Imaging solutions.

Link_A_ Media

Acquisition in 2012
Link_A_Media Devices (LAMD) is the new leader in developing and manufacturing custom System-on-Chip (SOC) solutions for peripheral data storage devices, which include hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state-drives (SSDs). The SoC solution integrates the Read/Write Channel, disk controller functions, microprocessor(s) and memories, and servo processing for HDD application on a single chip.

Avicena

Avicena specializes in developing advanced optical interconnectivity technology aimed at enhancing inter-chip communication. By leveraging innovations in silicon photonics and plasmonics, Avicena's solutions provide ultra-dense, low-latency, and low-cost optical interconnects that significantly improve system performance compared to traditional electrical interconnects. The company's platform allows for multi-chip connectivity, facilitating higher throughput and greater power efficiency, which helps clients reduce energy consumption while boosting overall system capabilities. Through these advancements, Avicena addresses critical needs in chip-to-chip interconnects, offering a transformative approach to modern computing challenges.
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