Alphalon raises $15M Series B to build AR optical chips with chip-making tools
What's the deal? Beijing-based AlphalonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised 100 million CNY (about $15 million) in a Series B round to develop its optical waveguide chips for augmented reality. Existing backer Meihua Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led, with Deyang state-owned assets and Ningbo state-owned assets joining.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2017, Alphalon makes metasurface optical waveguide chips and AR glasses, controlling the full chain from chip design to mass production. Its core bet is using semiconductor processes to manufacture optical chips, pairing metasurface waveguides with silicon carbide.
The company says its MGW approach delivers optical efficiency more than triple that of the mainstream SRG method, with a field of view above 50°, while cutting the dispersion and rainbow effects that plague existing designs. It expects mass-production costs roughly 60% below the industry average.
Why now? Founder Xu Peipei, a Peking University PhD and former HuaweiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → manager, expects AR to hit an inflection point by 2027. "This year, many AR products already sell in the millions of units," he told 36Kr (translated from Chinese), noting glasses have dropped to around 30 grams.
Where the money goes: Funds will back research on wide-field-of-view waveguide chips, capacity expansion at the Deyang production base in Sichuan, and the commercialisation of optical communication components. Alphalon runs a two-site setup, splitting research in Beijing's Shunyi district and mass production in Deyang. Its 8-inch silicon carbide production line is due to reach 1 million units of annual output by 2027.
By the numbers: Alphalon reported about 70 million CNY (roughly $10 million) in 2025 revenue and expects to double that to around 150 million CNY in 2026, targeting 500 million CNY by 2028.
What could go wrong? Making both chips and finished glasses risks competing with customers. Xu says the overlap is limited: Alphalon's own AR hardware targets policing and industrial buyers requiring special certification, while its waveguide chips sell openly to all AR manufacturers.
The signal: Chinese state capital is backing hard-tech supply chains as AR displays edge toward consumer scale. Meihua said it kept investing because Alphalon exceeded expectations on "process maturity, mass-production yield and customer adoption" — a bet on turning niche optics into industrial capacity.
Read more: 36kr.com
Image credit: Sangitiana
