Xilect, founded by MetaX and UBTech, raises RMB 500 million for robot chips

Xilect, a startup that designs chips for robots, has closed an RMB 500 million angel round, TechNode reported. The company was set up together by MetaX, a Chinese maker of graphics processing units (GPUs), and UBTech Robotics, which builds humanoid robots.

According to the report, the money will pay for development of the company's first chip and its supporting software. It will also fund a larger engineering team and testing of the platform together with robot manufacturers.

A chip that runs the robot's core functions

Xilect is designing a system-on-chip, a single piece of silicon that integrates several functions. In this case it would handle multimodal perception, decision-making and motion control directly on the robot rather than elsewhere.

The startup is also building a software toolchain. It is meant to let robot makers run AI models they already use on the Xilect platform.

Multimodal perception means a robot combines several kinds of sensor input to understand its surroundings. Xilect's design aims to place that processing, along with planning and movement control, on one chip inside the machine, according to the report.

Timeline

Xilect plans to offer partners a development and testing platform in 2027, TechNode said. The first chip is scheduled for release in 2028.

An angel round is an early stage of outside financing for a young company. Xilect has said the proceeds will go toward four areas: the first chip, the supporting software, hiring engineers and platform tests with robot manufacturers.