Qianhe Yibang, a pioneer in 3D compute-in-memory chips, has closed a Series B of over 2 billion yuan. The round gathered a heavyweight mix of state capital and financial investors, including the national structural-adjustment fund, China Mobile’s chain-leader fund, Sequoia-sister vehicles, Hillhouse-linked and other first-tier institutions. NetEase Youdao and China Mobile’s chain-leader fund, long-term shareholders since inception, deepen a strategic fit that gives the chip a demand entry point and validation scene.
The firm was founded in January 2024 and incubated by NetEase, making it one of the earliest Chinese companies focused on 3D compute-in-memory, 3D-integrated native chip architecture and cloud-gaming acceleration. Its core team began exploring the world’s first 3D DRAM compute-in-memory architecture chip back in 2018, and has pushed 3D-integrated native architecture into encrypted compute and application acceleration.
Breaking the memory wall
By stacking 3D DRAM in three-dimensional space, the design fuses compute and storage, sidestepping the memory wall that limits the von Neumann separation of compute and memory. The company frames this as a change of lane rather than a catch-up, a path to lead the next wave of three-dimensional integrated circuits. It says it will keep raising research spend, accelerate iteration and commercialisation, and push the front line of 3D-integrated native architecture and 3D compute-in-memory.
The round’s size signals where Beijing wants its chip bets placed. As the digital economy enters a compute-centric phase, memory bandwidth, latency and capacity are the binding constraints, and 3D integration is the route the industry believes will break them.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original LeiFeng Network report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience.