China semiconductor company cites Devonshire’s ‘Tesla’ as partner in automotive chip venture

The Anas venture is 55 per cent owned by Annex Semiconductor, 40 per cent by Jinan Zurich Annecy Fund, and 5 per cent by Tesla Motor Limited of Devonshire, UK

A spokeswoman of Tesla China said the Anas venture in Jinan has “nothing to do” with the San Carlos, California-based carmaker

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Tesla’s push into the autos chip sector is another sign of its localisation strategy in the country. Photo: SCMP / Daniel Ren

Published: 9:30pm, 28 Nov 2022Updated: 3:32pm, 29 Nov 2022

Corrected [2:28pm, 29 Nov, 2022]

[2:28pm, 29 Nov, 2022]
Corrects in headline, and lead to clarify that Tesla Motor Limited is not related to Tesla Inc of San Carlos, California.

A company with little track record in the chip industry has set up a venture in China to make semiconductor chip for high-end automobiles including electric vehicles, citing Tesla Motors Limited as a minority partner, according to the Chinese corporate registry Qichacha.

According to the corporate information website, Tesla Motors, based in Devonshire in the UK, owns 5 per cent of the venture. A spokeswoman of Tesla China, which assembles the Model Y and Model 3 electric vehicles at a US$2 billion factory in Shanghai, said the Anas venture in Jinan has “nothing to do” with the San Carlos, California-based carmaker, the bellwether in the global EV market.

The venture, called Anas Semiconductor (Jinan), has US$150 million in registered capital and is based in the Shandong provincial capital Jinan in eastern China. Its largest shareholder, Annex Semiconductor, owns 55 per cent of the venture, while the Jinan Zurich Annecy Equity Investment Fund Partnership, a newly incorporated firm in September, controls 40 per cent.

The two biggest shareholders share a corporate address in an office building in Jinan. Annex Semiconductor could not be reached for comment.

Qichacha said it obtained its registry data about Anas from the provincial unit of China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

Annex said it is a global leader in automotive system-on-chip, microcontroller and processor, image sensor, and power device products that support assisted and autonomous driving, according to its website. But there’s little public information or media reports about the company.

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