Source: Laserfair.com  6^th Mar 2026

The optical chip sector has been exceptionally hot since the start of 2026, with a host of core players securing major funding rounds in quick succession.

Since January, five firms—Huaxin Xinguang, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Raysees Technology, Lingxi Photonics and Quantex Technology—have successively announced new financing rounds, with individual deals ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan. These companies cover key links in the supply chain: laser chips, epitaxial wafer materials, VCSEL chips, silicon photonic engines and high-speed optical chips.

Amid the dual waves of explosive AI computing demand and domestic substitution, the optical chip industry may well be entering its golden age.

01

Leading Domestic Optical Chip Firm: Suzhou Huaxin Xinguang Secures Strategic Investment

On January 27, 2026,  InfoTech Ventures Fund announced the completion of a strategic investment in Suzhou Huaxin Xinguang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. The fund is jointly launched by well-known private equity funds, industrial capital and state-owned capital, including Yanrui Fund, GigaDevice Semiconductor, and Ingenic Semiconductor, highlighting the market’s high recognition of Huaxin Xinguang’s technical strength.

Founded in August 2025, Huaxin Xinguang is led by a PhD team from the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its core members have more than 20 years of experience in optical chip research and development. The company focuses on high-end products such as optical mixer chips and external cavity narrow linewidth lasers, which are widely used in space laser communication, AI supercomputing centers and other fields.

The company adopts the IDM full-industry-chain model and has R&D and production bases in Beijing and Bengbu, covering the entire process of optical chip design, testing and packaging. It is committed to breaking the foreign technological monopoly in the field of high-power semiconductor laser chips.

This financing will help Huaxin Xinguang expand R&D investment and production scale, and accelerate the domestic substitution of high-end laser chips. In the future, with the advancement of the "Smart Manufacturing in China" strategy and the surging demand for high-power laser equipment, Huaxin Xinguang is expected to become a key force in the domestic substitution of core upstream components for lasers.

02

Game-Changer in Optical Communication Materials: Huaxing Optoelectronics Secures Hundreds of Millions in Series D Financing

On January 8, 2026, Jiangsu Huaxing Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. completed a Series D financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan, with investors including Huatai Zijin Investment, CSC Capital and other institutions.

According to public records, Huaxing Optoelectronics was founded in 2016 as a National "Little Giant" Enterprise with Specialized, Refined, Distinctive and Novel Features. It specializes in the R&D and manufacturing of compound semiconductor optoelectronic epitaxial wafers. based on metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technology, the company produces epitaxial wafers based on Indium Phosphide (InP) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), which are widely used in laser communication, mobile phone RF power amplifiers and other fields.

As the first domestic professional optoelectronic epitaxial wafer enterprise, Huaxing Optoelectronics has built the largest manufacturing platform for InP and GaAs epitaxial wafers in China, and mastered the mass production technology for full-band semiconductor laser and detection wafer materials.

At present, against the backdrop of explosive computing power demand driven by artificial intelligence, the company is entering a period of rapid development. This round of financing will further consolidate its leading position in the field of core upstream materials.

03

VCSEL Technology Leader: Raysees Technology Completes Series C Financing

On January 21, 2026, Raysees Technology announced the completion of a Series C financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan, co-invested by both new and existing shareholders including Guangziqianglian Fund, Hefei Industry Investment Group, and Shenzhen Venture Capital Group (SCGC).

According to public records, Raysees Technology was founded in 2018 by a team of PhD returnees from the United States. It specializes in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) chips and optical solutions, with products widely applied in intelligent driving, consumer electronics, medical aesthetics and other fields. The company has built a complete "chip + optics + application" industrial chain, and launched a full series of high-performance VCSEL chips. Its cumulative shipments have exceeded 200 million units, and the mass production volume of 6-inch VCSEL wafers has surpassed 10,000 wafers, ranking first in the industry.

Raysees Technology has achieved multiple technological breakthroughs: it was the first in the industry to mass-produce two-dimensional addressable VCSEL chips for lidar, and the first to mass-produce short-wavelength red VCSEL chips. It also introduced VCSEL technology into the robotic vacuum cleaner sector, where it now holds the top market share. This round of financing will be allocated to core product R&D, production capacity expansion and market development, to further consolidate its leading position in the intelligent sensing field.

04

Rising Star in Silicon Photonic Engines: Lingxi Photonics Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Round Financing

Recently, Beijing Lingxi Photonics Technology Co., Ltd. completed a tens of millions of yuan angel round financing, co-invested by six institutions including Shunxi Fund and Puhua Capital.

According to public records, Lingxi Photonics was founded in September 2025, spun off from the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XIOPM). It focuses on the co-development of microring modulator-based silicon photonic chips and CMOS analog chips, to build high-performance optical engines. Its core products deliver high-bandwidth, low-power optical interconnection solutions, with its target market focused on AI computing power clusters.

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Dr. Wang Binhao, founder of the company, previously served as a research scientist at HP Labs in the United States, and the team is composed of professionals from XIOPM and global tech giants. At present, Lingxi Photonics has mastered full-link technical capabilities, and completed the verification of key technologies including wavelength locking and single-channel 500Gb/s microring modulators. This round of financing will be used for the prototype development of 3.2T/6.4T optical engines and team building, to accelerate the domestic substitution process of core optical interconnection technologies.

05

Emerging Player in Silicon Photonic Chips: Zhuhai Quantex Technology Secures Tens of Millions in Financing

Recently, Zhuhai Quantex Technology Co., Ltd. completed a tens of millions of yuan angel round financing, led by Zhuhai Science and Technology Industry Group, with follow-on investment from Zhuhai Zhengfang Group.

According to public information, Quantex Technology was founded in 2024, focusing on the R&D of silicon photonic transmission chips, with products targeting AI data centers, mobile communications and other fields. The company adopts a parallel development strategy for Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) and Micro-Ring Modulator (MRM) technologies: it has launched 800G and 1.6T optical chips based on MZM technology, and developed engineering samples of 1.6T silicon photonic chips based on MRM technology.

The company’s founding team brings together talents from international giants including Cadence and Intel. Its founder, Dr. Li Yaoji, has 30 years of experience in the integrated circuit (IC) field. Through cooperation with international process platforms such as the Chongqing United Microelectronics Center (CUMEC) and Singapore's AMF, Quantex Technology has completed multiple rounds of wafer tape-out verification, with key indicators benchmarked against high-end overseas devices.

This round of financing will help the company build a globally competitive supply chain system and advance the domestic substitution of silicon photonic chips.

06

Financing Deals Close in Quick Succession: Domestic Substitution May Enter the Fast Lane

Since the start of 2026, a surging wave of financing has swept through the optical chip sector. A host of optical chip-related manufacturers, including Huaxin Xinguang, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Raysees Technology, Lingxi Photonics and Quantex Technology, have closed large-scale financing rounds, reflecting the capital market’s strong confidence in domestic high-end optical chips.

Analysts point out that across the industrial chain, from laser chips to silicon photonic chips, from raw materials to integrated solutions, Chinese manufacturers are gradually breaking through foreign technological monopolies and building a self-reliant and controllable supply chain system through technological innovation and capital support.

With the rapid development of emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, AI computing power and intelligent driving, as well as the accelerating domestic substitution process, optical chips serve as core infrastructure. It is expected that the boom in the optical chip sector will continue to intensify, with its market size expanding continuously.

Looking ahead, these domestic optical chip manufacturers are expected to secure a more prominent position in global competition, and inject strong impetus into the "Smart Manufacturing in China" initiative.