Nuclei Tech (芯来科技) Files for IPO — Global First ASIL-D RISC-V Automotive CPU IP

On September 8, 2026, Nuclei Technology (芯来智融半导体科技(上海)股份有限公司) signed an IPO counseling agreement with China Merchants Securities, officially beginning its journey toward a Beijing Stock Exchange (北交所) listing. This marks the first RISC-V CPU IP company in China to pursue a public market listing — a milestone for the commercialization of the open ISA.

From Open-Source Pioneer to Commercial Leader

Founded in September 2018 by Hu Zhenbo (胡振波), a Shanghai Jiao Tong University graduate and former Synopsys processor IP R&D manager, Nuclei Tech began with the release of "Hummingbird E203" (蜂鸟E203) — China's first open-source RISC-V processor core. That same year, Hu authored "Hand-On CPU Design — RISC-V Processor Edition," the first Chinese-language RISC-V processor design textbook. Eight years later, the company ranks in the global RISC-V CPU IP top four and is the first-tier commercial player in China.

Product Portfolio: Seven CPU IP Lines

Nuclei built its product portfolio through self-developed RISC-V CPU cores, organized into four general-purpose and three specialized product lines:

NA900 — World's First ASIL-D RISC-V Automotive CPU IP

The NA900 is the crown jewel of Nuclei's portfolio. It is the first RISC-V CPU IP in the world to achieve ISO 26262 ASIL-D certification — the highest automotive functional safety integrity level. ASIL-D requires:

NA900 has been licensed to dozens of domestic automotive chip customers. In the reporting period, IP licensing fees related to NA900 accounted for over 20% of total IP licensing revenue. This demonstrates that RISC-V has crossed from "theoretical automotive readiness" into real production design wins.

UX1030H — RVA23 High-Performance Core

The UX1030H is among the world's first RISC-V CPU IP products supporting the RVA23 profile, targeting AI, datacenter, and high-performance computing scenarios. RVA23 is the critical profile specification that Canonical adopted as Ubuntu's RISC-V baseline from version 25.10 onward, and that NVIDIA requires for CUDA/NVLink Fusion host CPUs.

Financial Profile: High Growth, High Margin, Strategic Loss

The "high growth, high margin, book loss" profile is typical for IP companies in the investment phase. Once licensed, IP creates recurring royalty revenue with minimal incremental cost — the "burn money early, collect rent later" model. With 485M RMB cash and zero debt, Nuclei has ample runway.

Ecosystem Role: Patent Alliance, SOPIC, IoT Working Group

Beyond pure product, Nuclei plays a structural role in China's RISC-V ecosystem:

• China's first RISC-V patent alliance — Co-founded to create a defensive patent pool for domestic RISC-V adopters
• SOPIC (上海开放处理器产业创新中心) — Co-founded with VeriSilicon and DAMO Academy to drive industrial-scale RISC-V adoption
• China Mobile IoT Alliance RISC-V Working Group — Joined 2024
• 300+ licensed customers — Including GigaDevice (兆易创新), VeriSilicon (芯原股份), Bestechnic (恒玄科技), Amlogic (晶晨半导体)
• Cumulative shipments — Hundreds of millions of chips shipped using Nuclei IP

Investors and Shareholders

What This Means for RISC-V

Nuclei Tech's IPO filing signals three structural shifts in the RISC-V ecosystem:

1. RISC-V IP is a viable standalone business

With 87% gross margins, 300+ customers, and hundreds of millions of shipped cores, Nuclei proves that RISC-V CPU IP licensing — the same business model that made ARM a global giant — works for open ISA companies. The "open" in RISC-V does not mean "free" for commercial IP; it means the instruction set specification is open, while implementations remain licensable differentiated products.

2. Automotive-grade safety is no longer a gap

ASIL-D certification of the NA900 means RISC-V now covers the full automotive safety stack. Combined with the China Society of Automotive Engineers' RISC-V automotive chip specification (drafted by Guoxin Tech and partners) and Quintauris RT-Europa in Europe, RISC-V has achieved functional safety parity with ARM Cortex-R for vehicle control applications.

3. China's RISC-V commercialization is maturing

From open-source cores (Hummingbird E203, 2018) to ASIL-D certified automotive IP (NA900, 2024) to IPO filing (2026), the trajectory mirrors ARM's early growth — but compressed into 8 years. The patent alliance, SOPIC, and university textbook ecosystem create moats beyond pure IP licensing.

Challenges Ahead

Despite the strong position, Nuclei faces real obstacles:

• Still loss-making — 2026 H1 net loss of 57.3M RMB, expanded 25% YoY due to R&D investment
• RISC-V ecosystem still maturing — Software porting from IoT/MCU to automotive/AI is the key gap
• ARM dominance — Top 4 CPU IP vendors hold ~75% market share; ARM remains the incumbent
• From NEEQ to BSE — Counseling, filing, and review process will take 12–18 months

Timeline