Semight instruments, established in Suzhou in 2017, is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of high-speed communication high-end test instruments and test equipment.
In this year's government work report, it is clearly proposed to strengthen the construction of 5g network and gigabit optical network and enrich the application scenarios. According to Ernst & Young's report, China's optical communication market scale will maintain a compound annual growth rate of about 12%, and it is expected that the market scale will exceed 170 billion yuan by 2025. The development of optical communication devices will undoubtedly drive the optical communication test instrument and equipment industry into a new development stage.
Optical communication testing plays an irreplaceable role in all links of the optical communication industry chain. Through continuous technological innovation, Semight instrument has broken the long-term monopoly of foreign enterprises and completed the advance layout of testing instruments in all links of the whole industry chain, including optical modules, optical devices and optical chips. It has become the main force of domestic substitution in this field.
Rongzhong finance and economics conducted an exclusive interview with Hu Haiyang, chairman of Semight instruments. The following is the content of the interview for the readers.
Rongzhong finance and Economics: as a "specialized, special and new" enterprise, what are the main business lines and products of your company? What stage difficulties have you experienced in the development process? How to overcome difficulties?
Hu Haiyang: Semight instruments is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of high-speed communication high-end test instruments and test equipment. The downstream of our industrial chain is mainly optical modules, optical devices, optical chips and other optical communication basic components. The core business is to provide optical communication device test system equipment for data centers, 5g carrier networks, IOT core optoelectronic chips, devices, module testing and measurement fields. The equipment we can provide includes high-speed communication testing (400g / 800g bit error meter, 25g / 50g sampling oscilloscope), laser chip testing (laser chip testing machine, laser wafer testing machine), and semiconductor chip testing (high-precision digital source meter, semiconductor chip testing machine), etc., which has realized the coverage of the whole industrial chain of the product line in the photoelectric test subdivision field and filled many gaps in domestic high-end testing equipment.
The phased difficulties we have encountered in the development process should be that the high-end test instruments and equipment have been monopolized by foreign giants for a long time because of the high technical threshold, long research and development cycle, and long time for users to accept and approve. Overcoming such difficulties mainly depends on our scientific and technological innovation ability and the spirit of catching up day and night. The core R & D personnel of our self-developed semiconductor laser bare die chip testing machine project, taking the laboratory as their home, launched the same products of Japanese alphax whose performance reached the monopoly in this field for decades in just one and a half years.
In just four years, the team of Semight instruments has grown from 8 people to nearly 200 people. It has gradually become a professional comprehensive supplier covering the whole industrial chain of optical communication testing in China, won the recognition of nearly 100 well-known customers at home and abroad, and established its position in the industry. In 2020, the sales will exceed 100 million yuan, and further increase by 40% in 2021.
In addition, it is particularly worth mentioning that in the context of COVID-19, our products were successfully exported to the top chip companies overseas in 2020, and we continued to obtain more large-scale repeated orders in 2021, further enhancing our confidence in participating in global competition in the future.
Each channel supports independent preamble code type, static load code type and protection time code type sequence settings
Hu Haiyang: at the beginning of the establishment of Semight instrument, the biggest problem was that in order to obtain user orders and meet user needs, Semight instrument undertook many projects and did not pay enough attention to the main channel. We believe that this is a common problem in start-ups and an inevitable common problem in the initial survival stage. Now, our experience is that we must ensure that the main business direction is unshakable and cannot deviate from the main direction. That is to say, we need to take "specialization" as the premise and make products "refined" on this basis.
Rongzhong finance and Economics: what is the development of your industry segment at this stage? What market competition are we facing? Where is the moat of your company?
Hu Haiyang: Semight instruments belongs to the electronic measurement instrument industry and is located in the high-end intelligent equipment and device circuit. This field is the national basic and strategic industry. Therefore, our mission is to fill the gap of domestic high-end test equipment!
The optical communication test instrument and equipment industry is closely related to the development of optical communication devices. Optical communication testing plays an irreplaceable role in all links of the optical communication industry chain. Semight instrument has broken the long-term monopoly of foreign enterprises in this market through continuous technological innovation.
Through the comprehensive layout of test instruments in all links of the whole industrial chain of optical modules, optical devices and optical chips, Semight instrument covers most domestic large-scale optical communication enterprises and has become the main force of domestic substitution in this field. At the same time, Semight instrument is still making unremitting efforts to invest in research and development to meet the urgent needs of domestic top users for domestic replacement, and is committed to research and development of cutting-edge technologies.
In recent years, the State Council, the development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of industry and information technology and other relevant ministries and commissions have successively issued a number of specific industrial policies to encourage and support the development of the electronic measuring instrument industry. It is believed that domestic high-end testing instruments and testing equipment enterprises will seize the opportunity to usher in better development.
Rongzhong finance and Economics: what new opportunities and changes will be made to Semight instruments after "specialized, special and new" is once again emphasized from the national strategic level? What industry advantages does your company have?
Hu Haiyang: after "specialized, special and new" was once again emphasized from the national strategic level, the support of the state and governments at all levels for "hard technology" enterprises was further increased. The industry to which the company belongs is the industry that the State encourages. Therefore, the development prospect of the industry is very optimistic. In addition, Semight instrument has been awarded many qualifications and honors from government departments, such as scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship talents in the national innovation talent promotion plan, potential Unicorn enterprises in China, high-tech enterprises, Jiangsu Province's "innovation and entrepreneurship plan", and Jiangsu Province's "small giant" specialized in special technology, which is a strong endorsement of the company's technical strength.
Speaking of industry advantages, Semight instrument has realized the full industrial chain coverage of the product line in the optoelectronic test subdivision field. It is one of the few domestic integrated test suppliers that comprehensively cover optical communication chips → devices → modules → equipment. In addition, we have mastered the core technology of each business before it is introduced to the market and made many major breakthroughs. We have a total of 87 pieces of authorized intellectual property rights, which is a significant technological leader compared with our peers.
Semight instruments attaches great importance to R & D investment. Our R & D investment accounts for more than 20% of the annual average. Moreover, we actively communicate with top users at home and abroad to lay out the future market in advance. Under the influence of the Sino US trade war, domestic head users have gradually realized that the testing and measuring instruments and equipment can be controlled independently only by domestic products, and the Chinese people need to define the high-end testing products they need in the future, so as to fundamentally solve the problem of "stuck neck".
At present, the company has comprehensive competitive advantages in core team, product technology, brand construction, channel expansion, sales service, etc.
Rongzhong finance and Economics: at what stage of development will your company seek capital support? What aspects do you value most when choosing an investment institution? Does your company have a new round of financing plan? What changes do you feel in the investment and financing market in 2021?
Hu Haiyang: at present, the development of the company is valued by all walks of life. Since its establishment, the company has obtained two rounds of financing, and many well-known industrial funds and private equity funds including Yida capital and bridge capital have made investments. The total amount of financing in 2019-2020 is nearly 100 million yuan, and the funds have been received.
When selecting an investment institution, we often consider the industrial investment background, strength and consistency with the development concept of the entrepreneurial team. Our round B + financing is in progress and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
The investment market in 2021 can be described as changeable. We will not forget our original intention in the fluctuating changes. We will do a good job in domestic test instrument equipment products and speak by strength.
Date:2022.07.17
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