Shanghai (ZXZC)- BYD Company Limited (BYD) recently joined the lineup of shareholders of Vital Thin Film Materials Co.,Ltd. (VTFM), a Chinese leading manufacturer of thin-film materials.

Vital Thin Film Materials Co.,Ltd.'s strategic investment briefing; photo credit: VITAL Group

According to a post on the WeChat account of VITAL Group, VTFM's parent company, VTFM has nabbed over 1.2 billion yuan ($188.188 million) in a Series A financing, which was led by BYD and China Capital Investment Group (CCIG), and also attracted such investors as SINOPEC CAPITAL Co.,Ltd. and TBEA. The proceeds will be used to further improve the company’s product matrix, strengthen the R&D of products including semiconductor display target materials, thin-film solar target materials, and solid-state fuel cell target materials, and enlarge market size.

The registered capital of VTFM has increased to 333.057 million yuan ($52.231 million) from 268.421 million yuan ($42.095 million) with a slew of new investors added, according to the corporate database Tianyancha. BYD is one of the new shareholders by holding 1.6119% stake.

Founded in July 2017, VTFM focuses on R&D, production, sales and recycling of sputtering targets and evaporation materials for physical vapor deposition (PVD). Its products have been widely used for display, photovoltaic, semiconductor, optics, LED, data storage and glass applications.

BYD's new investment is regarded as an effort to deploy the upstream industrial chain for semiconductor supply. Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD, noted last year the demands for semiconductors in electric vehicles are 5 to 10 times higher than in traditional oil-fueled vehicles.

BYD sold 740,131 new vehicles in 2021, 81.6% of which were new energy vehicles (NEVs). Compared to 2019, BYD’s annual NEV sales surged 218.3%.