(Yicai Global) July 14 -- State-backed China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund will sell up to 9.9 million shares -- or 2 percent -- of Chinese chip maker Naura Technology Group’s total shares via centralized bidding, Naura announced yesterday.

The Beijing-headquartered microprocessor company’s shares [SHE:002371] closed 4.53 percent down at CNY214.68 (USD30.68) at the lunch bell.

The Beijing-based fund will rake in up to CNY2.23 billion (USD318.68 million) by unloading this stake, based on Naura’s CNY224.51 closing price of yesterday.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology set up NICIIF in September 2014 to boost the country’s integrated circuit industry. Its first phase investment reached CNY140 billion. The fund operates as a venture capital pool that bows out from the projects it invests in when the time is ripe. It has thus far shed its holdings in seven of the 20 listed companies in the chip industry it invested in at its inception.

The fund released its shareholding reduction plan for the first time at the end of last year to divest its stake in GigaDevice Semiconductor, Goodix Technology, and Hunan Goke Microelectronics.

NICIIF was to sell 4.7 million shares in GigaDevice Semiconductor and 81.56 million shares in San’an Optoelectronics, taking up 1 percent and 2 percent of the two’s total shares, respectively, the two chip makers separately announced on June 12.

The fund was to sell 31.59 million shares in Wuxi Taiji Industry, 9.8 million shares in BDStar Navigation, and 4.57 million shares in Goodix Technology, making up a respective 1.5 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent of their total shares, the three announced on July 9.

NICIIF seeks to develop production capacity building and special technology production lines for analog and digital-analog mixed circuits, micro-electromechanical systems, high-voltage circuits and radio frequency circuits and aid overall chip making capacity to enhance design processes and develop key equipment and material production lines, information on its website shows.

In 2019 July, the fund finished its CNY200 billion second phase fund raising. And added it will focus on the terminal application enterprise.

Editor: Ben Armour