Huachen Core Optoelectronics raises over $14M for high-end laser chips
What's the deal? Chinese laser chip maker Huachen Core Optoelectronics has raised over 100 million CNY (about $14.8 million), the company announced in July 2026. Tongchuang Weiye led the round, with Zhangjiang Yaokun and Hongshan Capital joining and some existing shareholders adding on.
Where's the money going? The funds will mainly build out reliability testing for the company's multiple series of mass-production chips.
What's the endgame? Huachen runs an integrated design and manufacturing (IDM) model, controlling the full chip production stack. It focuses on high-reliability, high-power single-mode communications laser chips, aiming to end China's reliance on imported high-end optical chips.
Its core GaAs product — a 1,000mW 974nm/976nm pump laser chip — has passed internal testing. The company says its optoelectronic performance and reliability match comparable US products at roughly half the manufacturing cost, making it one of very few firms worldwide able to mass-produce communications pump laser chips.
Why now? The chips amplify signals across backbone, core, and metro networks, plus subsea fibre, inter-satellite laser links, and AI data centre interconnects. Huachen plans to enter mass production and begin global sales in the second half of 2026.
The company is also developing ultra-high-power InP CW laser chips for co-packaged optics (CPO), leaning on its IDM capabilities to widen its product range.
The signal: High-end optical chips remain a chokepoint where China depends heavily on foreign suppliers. A domestic firm reaching cost parity — at half the price — signals a narrowing gap in a technology critical to AI data centres and long-haul networks.
Read more: 36Kr
Image credit: NTNU, Faculty of Natural Sciences
