Chixin Semiconductor Breaks Through with Four Major UWB Chips, Achieving Import Substitution with 22nm Full-Stack Architecture

[Editor's Note] As an annual benchmark event in the semiconductor industry, the 8th IC Top List stands at a critical window for industrial technology iteration and domestic substitution. This year's list has been fully upgraded, featuring 70 heavyweight awards covering eight core fields including AI, embodied intelligence, and smart vehicles, with multiple special awards newly added and optimized. The judging panel is composed of over 100 semiconductor investment alliance units and 500+ industry CEOs. The list of winners will be announced at the 2027 Semiconductor Investment Annual Conference Gala, dedicated to identifying industry benchmarks and establishing models of industry innovation.

[Candidate Enterprise] Changsha Chixin Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Chixin Semiconductor")

[Candidate Award] Annual Outstanding AI Innovation Award

At a time when artificial intelligence, spatial computing, and automotive intelligence are accelerating their integration, centimeter-level high-precision positioning, short-range radar sensing, and secure data transmission are becoming indispensable core support for intelligent connected vehicles, smart Internet of Things (IoT), and AI edge terminals. Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, with its centimeter-level high precision, strong anti-interference capability, ultra-low power consumption, and automotive-grade high-security encryption features, has opened up a new track for spatial intelligence and edge perception.

However, for a considerable period in the past, the global UWB chip market landscape was highly divided among foreign giants—the automotive and consumer electronics sectors were dominated by overseas enterprises, the IoT sector was monopolized by foreign companies, and the vast majority of domestic peers remained in the R&D and catch-up stage. Facing this "bottleneck" constraint, conquering the underlying core technologies of UWB chips and building an autonomous and controllable high-performance chip matrix holds pivotal strategic significance for strengthening and shoring up weak links in China's semiconductor industry chain and for building the intelligent ecosystem.

Founded in June 2020, Changsha Chixin Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. is precisely a leading hard-core technology enterprise in China focused on UWB chip R&D and industrialization. From the initial R&D stage, Chixin Semiconductor resolutely targeted the 28nm process and was among the first globally to advance to the 22nm process. In core indicators such as chip size, transceiver architecture, power consumption control, and radar functionality, it is on par with international leaders, achieving a market pace that advances in sync with leading international giants and truly realizing substantive import substitution for high-end foreign UWB chips.

Deep cultivation of the advanced 22nm process, original "trinity" full-stack self-developed architecture

Chixin Semiconductor is headquartered in Changsha Intelligent Valley, Hunan Xiangjiang New Area, and has established a high-standard R&D center in Zhangjiang, Shanghai. As a national-level high-tech enterprise, a national-level technology-based small and medium-sized enterprise, and a provincial-level specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprise, the company has successively obtained AEC-Q Grade 2 automotive-grade certification, ISO 26262 ASIL-D functional safety management system certification, and ISO 9001 system certification, and has successfully been selected for the "2024 China Most Investment-Worthy Enterprises List" and the "China Potential Unicorn Enterprises List." With outstanding innovation value and development potential, Chixin Semiconductor has received strategic backing from multiple leading state-owned and well-known investment institutions, including Hunan Xingxiang Group, Agricultural Bank of China International, and Caixin Financial Holdings.

At the technical R&D level, Chixin Semiconductor adheres to a full-stack self-developed approach and has pioneered a "positioning + communication + radar" trinity integrated architecture, achieving deep synergy between underlying chip technologies and algorithms. Around key links across the entire chain—including RF transceiver, digital baseband, positioning algorithms, security encryption, radar sensing, and automotive-grade reliability—the company has carried out a systematic intellectual property layout. To date, the company has accumulated 40 invention patents, 3 international patents (PCT), 1 integrated circuit layout design, and 16 utility model patents and software copyrights, building an extremely solid hard-tech patent barrier.

Four major UWB chips with in-depth layout, comprehensively matching international advanced levels

Relying on a unified 22nm advanced process technology platform, Chixin Semiconductor adopts a product strategy combining platformization and scenario-based development. Targeting the three high-potential markets of consumer electronics, IoT, and automotive front-loading, it has strived to build a comprehensively covering UWB SoC chip product matrix:

1. CX100 UWB SoC chip: a benchmark for extremely small size in consumer electronics and wearable devices

Aimed at consumer-grade terminals such as mobile phones, smart watches, laptops, and AR/VR, the CX100 adopts a 1T3R highly integrated transceiver architecture, with a package size of only LGA 4.5mm×3.5mm, making it a model of extremely small size among currently mass-produced UWB chips and greatly saving internal space in terminal devices. The chip's standby power consumption is as low as 5.5µA, supports centimeter-level precise positioning and high-sensitivity RF transmission, and is fully compatible with IEEE 802.15.4a/4z HRP, FiRa, CCC, and ICCE protocols, perfectly supporting innovative interactive experiences such as one-tap screen casting on mobile phones.

2. CX320 UWB SoC chip: a low-power powerhouse with a full set of algorithms for the IoT and industrial markets

Aimed at scenarios such as anti-loss tags, pointing remote controls, smart door locks, smart air conditioners, and industrial personnel and asset positioning, the CX320 single chip integrates full-stack positioning algorithms including TWR, AoA, ToA, TDoA, and PDoA as well as radar sensing functionality, helping customers significantly reduce overall BOM costs. The chip's Hard Power Down mode consumes as little as 10nA, offers multiple package options and flexible single-antenna/3-antenna configurations, and has successfully passed the official FiRa Alliance UWB certification, ensuring seamless cross-device interoperability.

3. CX520 UWB SoC chip: a flagship benchmark for automotive-grade high security and AI radar sensing

As a flagship product for the automotive front-loading market, the CX520 is built on TSMC's 28nm automotive-grade process, has successfully passed AEC-Q100 Grade 2 certification, and supports full-temperature-range operation from -40°C to 105°C along with a wide-voltage design of 2.3–5.5V. The chip is not only the first domestic UWB chip to pass the full FiRa Core 3.0 certification suite (including the complete CCC digital key protocol stack), but also pioneers a dynamic scrambling timestamp technology, achieving a success rate of over 99.9% in resisting relay attacks in CCC digital key tests. In addition, the CX520 integrates a hardware-level AES-256/ECC-384 encryption engine and combines UWB child presence detection (CPD) radar with AI-powered multi-antenna motion-recognition kick radar, achieving a perfect combination of high-throughput sentry mode and low-power seamless entry.

4. CX200 UWB SoC chip: second-generation architecture leading the next generation of high-distance sensing

As the company's second-generation UWB architecture product, the CX200 adopts an ultra-small WLCSP 3.2mm×3.1mm package and a 1T2R transceiver architecture, with a built-in DCDC converter to optimize energy efficiency. The chip is among the first to support the latest IEEE 802.15.4ab protocol and is compatible with the UWB Drive mms ranging standard, boosting ranging capability by 3 to 4 times compared with the previous generation and paving the way for perceptual interaction in next-generation phones and AR/VR devices.

Full-scenario commercial ramp-up, accelerating the localization process of the semiconductor industry chain

With outstanding performance metrics and rigorous quality control, Chixin Semiconductor's full product series has demonstrated strong commercial momentum in the market.

In the consumer electronics and IoT fields, the CX100 and CX320 chips have been successfully introduced to leading market customers and achieved large-scale continuous shipments, and are widely used in diverse scenarios such as phone screen casting, smart wearables, pointing remote controls, smart door locks, and factory personnel and equipment positioning. In the automotive front-loading field, the automotive-grade flagship CX520 has achieved mass production and successfully entered the supply chains of leading domestic and international automakers, establishing a significant first-mover advantage at key front-loading nodes such as CCC digital car keys, sentry-mode radar, and CPD in-vehicle child presence detection. Meanwhile, the second-generation architecture chip CX200 has also entered the pre-mass-production stage and is conducting solution alignment and pre-research introduction with a number of leading terminal customers.

From breaking the long-term monopoly of foreign giants in the UWB track to achieving large-scale mass production of a 22nm full-stack chip matrix, Chixin Semiconductor, with hardcore technological breakthroughs and complete independent intellectual property rights, has filled key chip gaps in China's intelligent connected vehicle and spatial computing industry chains. Looking ahead, Chixin Semiconductor will continue to closely follow the national "15th Five-Year Plan" strategic guidance, deepen the technological evolution of the "positioning + communication + radar" trinity architecture, empower the high-precision perception ecosystem with continuously innovating independent chip strength, and build a solid foundation for the high-quality development of China's semiconductor industry.

[Award Application Entry]

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[Annual Outstanding AI Innovation Award]

Aimed at recognizing AI products launched in 2026 that possess technological innovation and market competitiveness, especially those that perform outstandingly in filling domestic gaps or achieving technological substitution.