Tsinghua Unigroup is a state-owned holding company affiliated with Tsinghua University that owns Spreadtrum and RDA Microelectronics, two fabless chip design firms. Spreadtrum designs mobile chipsets for smartphones and other devices, while RDA designs wireless chips and radio-frequency semiconductors. Intel has agreed to invest $1.5 billion for a 20% stake in Tsinghua Unigroup; the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions and is expected to close in early 2015. Under the agreements, Spreadtrum will develop and sell a family of Intel-based system-on-chips that will be available in the second half of 2015 and sold by both Intel and Spreadtrum. The collaboration aims to expand adoption of Intel-based mobile devices in China and to jointly develop mobile-phone technologies based on Intel architecture. Intel said the investment supports its broader plan to grow sales of Intel-based tablet and smartphone chips following a 2014 objective of selling 40 million such chips.

Total raised

$1.5B

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Sep 2014