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Focusing on the fields of wafer-level optics and optical integration.
Recently, Shanghai North Ocean Photonics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NOP") announced the completion of its Series C+ financing round of over CNY 1 billion. This marks the company's second major financing within less than a year, following the completion of a Series C round of several hundred million CNY earlier this year.
Founded in December 2016, NOP focuses on wafer-level optics and optical integration, with its headquarters in Lingang, Shanghai. Currently, the company has formed three major product sequences: micro-nano optics and machine vision, AR (Augmented Reality) display diffractive optical waveguides, and automotive and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). Related products have entered the supply chains of domestic and international customers, with downstream clients including leading manufacturers such as Huawei, Google, Meta, NIO, Rokid, Rayneo, StarMeizu, and INMO.
Advancing in parallel with the financing is the company's CNY 2 billion investment in Lingang, Shanghai, to build a 12-inch wafer-level optics production line. According to the plan disclosed by the company, this project is expected to be completed and operational by 2027.
From Cambridge Ph.D. to Financial Elite: He Chose to Return to Optoelectronics Entrepreneurship
The resume of Lin Tao, founder of NOP, is relatively rare among hard-tech entrepreneurs, spanning optoelectronics research, financial trading, management consulting, and equity investment.
He completed his undergraduate studies in the Engineering Advanced Class of the Zhu Kezhen College at Zhejiang University. After graduation, he received full funding as an Intel Scholar to pursue further studies at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where he obtained a Ph.D. in optoelectronics. During his doctoral studies, he published more than 20 international papers in the field of optoelectronics for IEEE/IEE.
However, after obtaining his Ph.D., Lin Tao did not directly enter the industry. He successively served as a derivatives trader at Barclays Capital and a Global Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, and later became a partner at Fosun Kunzhong Capital. These experiences allowed him to accumulate expertise in strategic consulting, corporate operations, and M&A financing beyond technical research.
In late 2016, combining his professional background with his judgment on market demands, Lin Tao chose to return to the optoelectronics field for entrepreneurship, focusing his direction on wafer-level optics.
For a long time, the optics industry has largely relied on "cold optical processing technologies." For instance, lenses and optical elements are manufactured through grinding and injection molding. This technology, with a history of over a century, is showing increasingly obvious limitations in terms of precision and scale.
Wafer-level optics borrows from semiconductor manufacturing concepts. Through processes such as photolithography, etching, and nanoimprint lithography, it mass-produces micro-nano optical structures at the wafer scale to meet the requirements of novel optical devices for precision, size, and manufacturing consistency.
The commercialization space in this direction has also gradually opened up with the emergence of new terminal products. Microsoft's HoloLens, unveiled in 2015, and Apple's iPhone X, released in 2017 with the TrueDepth camera system and Face ID, demonstrated the application potential of AR display and 3D sensing, respectively, providing demand pull for micro-nano optics technology to enter broader terminal markets.
Previously, all optical components were based on the geometric properties of light, where light travels in straight lines. In contrast, HoloLens and iPhone X technically utilize the wave nature of light for their design, representing a fundamental innovation in optical principles and optical manufacturing processes.
Lin Tao realized that optics could be fabricated on wafers using photolithography concepts, much like ICs (Integrated Circuits). The timing to enter the consumer electronics market might have arrived.
With a clear direction, NOP first built a research, development, and design platform for wafer-level optical chips. In 2021, the company built a cleanroom of nearly 10,000 square meters in Lingang, Shanghai, forming an IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) model of independent research and manufacturing, achieving full-chain autonomy and controllability from design and master masks to quality control.
In 2019, Huawei faced the pressure of domestic substitution for 3D imaging components due to external sanctions. At this juncture, NOP entered Huawei's supply chain, securing fixed orders from Huawei. This also enabled the completion of the IDM production line construction, marking the starting point for the enterprise to enter the international supply chain system.
From 3D Sensing to AR Display: Expanding Wafer-Level Optics Applications
Centered around the wafer-level optics platform, NOP has gradually formed a product layout targeting different application scenarios.
In the field of micro-nano optics and machine vision, its 3D imaging wafer-level components have been continuously mass-produced and applied in top-tier international smartphone products since 2019, with shipment volumes reaching tens of millions of units.
In the direction of AR display diffractive optical waveguides, the company's AR optical waveguide series has been successfully introduced to multiple top-tier Chinese terminal manufacturers, leading domestic and international internet companies, and well-known clients such as complete machine unicorns in the AR field.
In the automotive and LiDAR fields, according to company disclosures, related products completed automaker certification in 2021 and began to be introduced into top domestic NEV (New Energy Vehicle) models in 2022. The company also announced in 2022 that it had obtained the IATF 16949 automotive quality management system certification.
Among these, AR display is a crucial direction for the company's continuous investment, with layout efforts starting as early as 2017.
As AR and AI (Artificial Intelligence) glasses with display functions evolve, optical waveguide suppliers need to simultaneously address multiple requirements such as lightweight design, display efficiency, color performance, and manufacturing costs. The company has launched series such as "Qiushui," "Xiaoyao," "Fuyao," "Mengdie," and "Yingning," continuously expanding its material and process routes.
Taking the "Yingning" series as an example, the company showcased a single-piece full-color etched optical waveguide with a 30° field of view at the 2024 China International Optoelectronic Exposition, disclosing a thickness of 0.7 millimeters. This parameter reflects its research and development progress in the direction of thin and light full-color display. Subsequently, the company will further advance the customer introduction and mass production of full-color etched waveguides.
Besides display performance, the appearance of the lenses is also a critical consideration for consumer-grade products. It is reported that the "Tiangong" process package has been pushed to mass production and, through joint research and development with Rokid's optical team, applied to relevant versions of Rokid Glasses. Among these, the process known as "grating invisibility" focuses on reducing visual differences in the grating area to improve the lens appearance.
Supply chain collaboration is also advancing simultaneously. In February 2025, NOP, together with ecosystem partners such as XREAL and Jingsheng Jidian, signed the "AI/AR Supply Chain Strategic Cooperation Agreement." With the triple strategy of "technical standards + industrial closed-loop + national brand" as the fulcrum, it targets the L4-level smart glasses technology breakthrough in 2027, releasing China's photonic display solutions to the world.
Beyond existing businesses, NOP has already initiated research and development in frontier fields such as photonic AI, optical chips, and optical neural networks.
CNY 2 Billion Investment in 12-Inch Production Line: Financing and Capacity Building Advancing Simultaneously
For wafer-level optics enterprises, whether technical solutions can be transformed into stable and reproducible mass production capabilities directly affects customer introduction, delivery efficiency, and cost control.
NOP is advancing a key capacity layout in Lingang, Shanghai. The company's CNY 2 billion investment in building a 12-inch wafer-level optics production line in Lingang is steadily progressing as planned, with completion and operation expected in 2027. This production line will further enhance research, development, and mass production capabilities, serving downstream applications such as AR, fiber optics, optical communications, automotive optics, and optical computing.
Behind the capacity expansion is continuous capital injection. Prior to this financing round, the company has received multiple rounds of capital support, with investment institutions covering industrial capital, market-oriented funds, and local state-owned capital-related platforms.
In December 2019, during the company's Series B financing round, Hubble Investment, under Huawei, took an equity stake. Beyond product cooperation, the two parties further established an equity connection.
Subsequently, during the Series B+ and Series C financing rounds, the company continuously received investments from institutions such as Zhongxin Zhengye, Yunfeng Fund, Haiwang Capital, Jianxin (Beijing) Investment, Mingshi Capital, and Yuanma Capital. Existing shareholders including Kunzhong Capital, Huadeng International, Lingang Kechuangtou, Yuanjing Capital, Yuanhe Chenkun, and Chenhui Chuangtou continued to follow up with investments.
From technical verification to scaled mass production, NOP has reached a critical juncture. The completion of this round of over CNY 1 billion in financing provides financial guarantee for the construction of the 12-inch production line and customer introduction. Whether the production line can be operational as planned, how the subsequent yield rate will ramp up, whether unit costs can be effectively reduced, and whether the new capacity can match customer orders remain key factors in observing its development in the next stage.
Text | Zhouyu Editor | Yida