(Yicai Global) Jan. 6 -- Chinese chipmaker Mauna Kea Semiconductors, a Chinese chip-making startup, has secured USD12.8 million in a pre-A financing round led by Lightspeed China Partners and Gaorong Capital.

Other investors included Qiming Venture and Ivy Capital, MKSemi told Yicai Global at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday. The company, which has offices in China and the United States, did not disclose how the proceeds will be used.

Founded in 2019 and focused on low-power ultra-wideband chip solutions, MKSemi secured investment from leading Chinese handset maker Oppo in December 2020.

At the CES yesterday, the company also launched its new MK8000, a low-power UWB chip solution for high-precision sensing that drives Internet of Things devices with small batteries and sizes.

Despite UWB being in its early ecosystem development stage, it is quickly becoming a major short-range wireless technology, according to ABI Research. UWB-enabled devices are expected to exceed 1.3 billion shipments by 2026 from 143 million in 2020, the market research firm noted.

The MK8000 has a wide-ranging potential to dramatically bolster consumer and industrial IoT applications including smart homes, cities, autos, wearables, and health monitoring devices, said Zhang Yifeng, co-founder and chief executive officer of MKSemi.

MKSemi also announced partnerships with German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies and ThinkSeed Systems, an Indian car technology solutions provider.

Editor: Futura Costaglione