[News] Xiamen Sets Up China’s Largest GaAs Satellite Solar Cell Production Base
Xiamen Wafertop (Yinke Qirui) Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. recently completed a new round of strategic equity financing. The investment round was jointly participated in by the Xiamen Jinyuan Industrial Chain Innovation Fund (managed by Xiamen Venture Capital) and Xiamen High-tech Venture Capital (a subsidiary of Xiamen Torch High-tech Zone). This transaction also marks the first project investment deployed by the Xiamen Jinyuan Industrial Chain Innovation Fund.
Founded in 2021, Wafertop (Yinke Qirui) specializes in the R&D and manufacturing of III-V compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers and chips. The company has mastered the complete process technology for Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) epitaxy required for space-grade solar cells, optical communication lasers and photodetectors, and high-end display LEDs.
Its volume production facility was established in the Xiamen Torch Graphene New Material Industrial Park in March 2023. Equipped with multiple GaAs epitaxy MOCVD systems, the facility yields processed chips with performance parameters reaching international benchmarks.
The newly planned GaAs satellite solar cell industrialization base represents a total planned investment of RMB 1.5 billion and will be constructed in three phases. Upon full completion and operation, the base is projected to generate an annual output value of RMB 2 billion to RMB 3 billion.
Driven by the accelerated deployment of commercial spaceflight and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, demand for high-efficiency, radiation-hardened GaAs multi-junction solar cells—the core components of satellite power systems—continues to surge.
Aside from space photovoltaics, the company’s product portfolio spans VCSEL lasers, infrared photodetector epitaxial wafers, and Micro-LED display materials, targeting automotive sensing, deep-space exploration, and consumer electronics applications.
Backed by a founding team with over 20 years of experience in compound semiconductor commercialization, the company possesses end-to-end, in-house R&D and production capabilities for GaAs satellite solar cells—ranging from epitaxial wafer processing to finished chip fabrication.
Xiamen has now established a comprehensive GaAs semiconductor industrial cluster, hosting multiple epitaxy and chip manufacturing vendors. The establishment of this new base addresses the capacity bottleneck in high-volume domestic space photovoltaic cell production and is expected to drive upstream semiconductor material upgrades across the regional commercial space industry chain.
(Photo credit: FREEPIK)
