Beyond chips and AI, why is hard technology capital becoming more and more "hard core"?

There's pressure, there's motivation , Perhaps for this reason ,“ thetime ”, It was once an important driving force for the development of domestic hard science and technology .

The most intuitive areas , Semiconductor chips 、 Industrial software 、 Power materials, etc . In order to conquer Technology 、 Patent barriers , Improve the lack of independent innovation in key core technologies , A large number of start-ups have sprung up , Venture capital institutions also flocked to .

This stage , One of the characteristics of hard technology investment is “ Motivational investments ”, What capital sees is a sea of stars replaced by China . Although there are many barriers to the technical route in these fields , But there are more experiences and ideas , Market certainty is high . And now ,“ Exploratory investment ” Is actively looking up , Capital flows to areas where it is difficult to produce direct results in the short term .

Hard technology is “ god ”“ Slight ”

2021 year 4 Revised in 《 Interim provisions of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the application and recommendation for the issuance and listing of enterprises on the science and innovation board 》, Describe the science and technology industry of the sci-tech innovation board as the following ： New generation information technology 、 High-end equipment 、 The new material 、 New energy 、 Energy conservation and environmental protection 、 Biological medicine . meanwhile , Financial technology 、 Model innovation is excluded .

From the actual investment trend , chip 、 Semiconductor materials 、AI、 Autopilot 、 Biological medicine 、 Intelligent manufacturing and other fields , The heat is always high , Especially in specific industries with domestic substitution demand . And venture capital institutions , Including Tencent 、 Ali 、 Meituan and other industrial investors , They are also very fond of these hard technology tracks .

In contrast , Cosmos track 、 The nuclear track belongs to “ Hard core in hard core ”. Maybe it's too sci-fi , For a long time , Investment in these areas is poor —— Although there are many cases , But most investors have , It is an interest in advanced technology and its commercialized achievements in the process of development . As for the ultimate goal , On the contrary, because it is too difficult to achieve, we have gained a bit of tolerance .

Hard technology investment is harder than ever , Both “ god ”, also “ Slight ”.

In recent days, , Star ring fusion energy, a commercial controllable nuclear fusion energy development enterprise, completed Angel round financing of hundreds of millions of yuan ; The commercial aerospace company Zhongxing Zhilian technology completed tens of millions of yuan of angel round financing ; Elliptical spacetime, a comprehensive satellite service provider providing wide area integrated sensing services, announced that it had completed hundreds of millions of yuan A Round of funding .

6 month 2 Japan , The first nine satellites of Geely's future travel constellation were successfully launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the form of one arrow and nine satellites , Based on the future travel constellation construction , Accelerate the construction of high-precision space-time information system integrating heaven and earth .

But at the same time , The development of these super hard core fields is equally difficult .5 month 13 Japan , The hyperbolic No. 1 rocket of the private Rocket Company interstellar glory failed for the third time in a row , All the satellites carried by the arrow were lost . Duanxuru, chief expert in the field of nuclear fusion reactor technology of China National Nuclear Power Corporation, made a speech this year “ The two sessions ” In the relevant interview, they said , To 2050 About years ago , It is possible for mankind to use nuclear fusion energy .

Star ring shaped energy CEO Chen Rui pointed out , With the completion of the experimental device , It can be commercialized as a fusion neutron R & D and application platform , At the same time, the cutting-edge new materials and other technologies attached to its R & D process are potential commercialized fruits .

therefore , such “ Keep your head on the road 、 Pick flowers on the way ” The development model of , Is to overcome cutting-edge technology “ Time barrier ” The best way .

Idaho National Laboratory for safety and tritium applications （STAR） Daiji Shimada, the chief scientist of the facility, once told a joke , Early in his career , It is said that nuclear fusion is “ The energy of the future , Forever is the energy of the future ”, In addition to people and companies engaged in controlled nuclear fusion research , No one believes this story can come true .

But when waves of money poured into the field of nuclear fusion , The prologue of industrial expansion has naturally begun . And the more hard core areas , The more business resonates with academia .

Academic background + Venture capital institutions are the first driving force

The technology of star ring energy gathering comes from the Spherical Tokamak 20 Fusion team of the Institute of nuclear energy, Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University with years of experience ; Elliptical spacetime was jointly founded by the former national major aerospace engineering experts , It also has the academic support of the space digital technology R & D center of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen .

Zhongxing Zhilian was incubated in the microsatellite research center of Zhejiang University , Professor jinzhonghe, the founder, presided over the development of China's first kilogram satellite ——“ Pixing one A” satellite . He is currently the director of the Institute of microelectronics and optoelectronics, Department of information and electronics 、 Director of microsatellite research center of Zhejiang University , General equipment department “ micron / Nanotechnology professional group ” Experts 、863-801 Subject matter experts .

In the past history of business innovation , It is not common for academic leaders to take the lead . On the one hand, the discussion about academic commercialization is always very intense , On the other hand, it is difficult to transform academic achievements into commercial achievements , Its benefits are not valued .

But when hard technology has developed to a certain stage , More institutions are willing to pay for it for a long time , The general environment is getting better . Capital is not direct productivity , But it can help science and technology to play better “ The first driving force ” The role of .

Star ring energy gathering stands behind Shun as capital 、 Lenovo star 、 Sequoia seed fund and other more than a dozen ace institutions , Zhongxing Zhilian received the exclusive investment of PWC capital .

Liu Ti, deputy general manager of Shanghai Stock Exchange, is in 6 month 10 At the Global Venture Capital Conference on the th , By 5 End of month ,95% The listed companies of the sci-tech innovation board have obtained the investment from the venture capital institutions , On average, each company gets investment 8 One hundred million yuan .2021 Information technology in China 、 Health care 、 The amount of equity investment in the semiconductor sector has exceeded 2000 RMB 100 million , Compared with that before the launch of the sci-tech innovation board .

Capital has always been “ Challenger ”, Daring to join hands in industrial development was once defined as “ impossible ” The world of ：

·2022 year 2 month , The energy singularity of Chinese companies has been nearly completed 4 RMB 100 million financing , Jointly led by mihayou and Weilai capital .

·2021 year 12 month , Canadian nuclear fusion technology developer General Fusion complete 1.3 Billion dollars E Round of funding ;

· One day after its financing , American nuclear fusion technology developer Commonwealth Fusion Systems Complete super 18 Billion dollars B Round of funding , Set a financing record in this field .

This can be called energy , It can also be called courage . But the key is , When challenging cutting-edge technologies , The most powerful technical force and the most stable capital support can work together . With this basic condition , Overcoming the existing problems is more likely to achieve .

To conquer the new air outlet “ Zhizi puzzle ”

Wang Xing, founder of meituan, highly praised Soros' views on investment ：“ What matters is not the frequency of making correct judgments , But the magnitude of the correct judgment .”

For more investment institutions , All kinds of superhard core fields nowadays , It is becoming a new air outlet worthy of high-level investment .

What is equally clear is , The reason why these fields have not erupted , When hard technology first became the focus, there was no sudden rise , Obviously it is not just their lack of market “ thetime ” The certainty of the formula .

Science fiction writer Liu Cixin 《 Trisomy 》 in , It has built a kind of substance that locks up the branch of high-energy particle physics in human basic science —— Wise son . This supercomputing but tiny proton , By hindering human high-energy physics research , It has blocked the technological progress of mankind .

In many high-end fields ,“ Wise son ” The shadow of "type" has long been shrouded in the process of technology industrialization .

For example, in the field of controllable nuclear fusion ,“ tritium ” It is an indispensable raw material for the first generation of nuclear fusion technology . unfortunately , The half-life of this radioactive element is too short , Only 12.43 year , It decays rapidly into other substances in nature . At present, human beings can synthesize tritium independently , The cost is too high , need “ Exchange energy for energy ”. at present , There is no good solution to this problem .

The shackles of this basic technology , It exists in all kinds of superhard core fields , And hinder the further development of technology . However , That's why , It will lead to the first development in some fields 、 The phenomenon of choosing another opportunity to obtain available results .

so to speak , This wonderful “ tolerance ” sense , It will give more freedom to the development of cutting-edge technology . And the more capital goes deep into the super hard core field , The more we can understand them .

In the long run , This understanding will bring the most effective support . Assume that capital is focused only on short-term returns , On the contrary, it is not conducive to the development of hard core technology .

To conquer the new air outlet “ Zhizi puzzle ” Not in a hurry , Nor is it likely to be done by a single company , It is important to make real progress in this process . Of course , If materials can be produced 、 Commercial achievements in products, etc , Nature is better .

Zhou ye, partner of Softbank China, once worked in “ Scientific innovation China and hard science and technology investment logic ” The round table said , Investment in hard technology has increased , Reverse force agencies to recruit 、 Introduction has technical background 、 People with industrial backgrounds join the investment team . thus , They will pay more attention to the development trend of superhard nuclear technology .

One thing is for sure , At present, the whole hard science and technology field has formed three “ ladder ”：

The first step , It is a field that already has independent and controllable output , For example, some car chips 、 Semiconductor materials 、 Private satellites ;

The second step , We are tackling key problems , And there is a great possibility of success , such as CPU、GPU、 Advanced medical robots ; The third step , There are technical reserves , But from a global perspective, it takes time to brew results in the field , Such as controlled nuclear fusion .

The trend of hard technology development is also enough to give people confidence . The quality of entrepreneurs is getting higher and higher , Policy attention and support are becoming more and more obvious , Capital “ Accompany running ” More and more willing .

Hard technology is like a big tree , Indomitable is not the only end , Open branches and loose leaves can also form a different kind of vitality . Today, the computer that dominates the development of human informatization , It was originally used for trajectory calculation of military guns and fire table test . In that case , Why should we worry that hard technology needs too long to develop ？

source ： Hong Kong Stock Research Institute