The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Kneron: 1 model, 2 deployments across 2 regions, $97.0M raised. 1 source back the record.
Overview
Kneron is a San Diego–based full-stack edge AI company founded in 2015, developing reconfigurable neural processing units (NPUs) that run AI inference directly on devices rather than in the cloud. Its chips power smart surveillance, autonomous driving, and AIoT applications for customers including Hanwha, Quanta Cloud, Chunghwa Telecom, and Toyota. The company has raised over $200 million from investors including Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sequoia Capital, and Horizons Ventures.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
CEO
Total fundingsee investors →
Manufacturing process
Developer platform
Financial stage
Foundry partners
Data & sources
Web sources
1
1 source backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Partnerships
Every company Kneron has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1GlobalFoundries1× joint1 total
- 2TSMC1× joint2 total
Most recent
- Kneron x TSMC2023-08-16with TSMCinferred
Kneron on the deployment map
View the global map2 verified deployments across 2 regions, newest verified Jun 2024. Explore where Kneron's robots are operating, by place and type.
Relationships
Current leadership (3)
- Albert Liu Founder & CEOSEC-verified
- Alice Feng Chief Financial OfficerSEC-verified
- Roger Liu Chief Operating Officersecondary-verified
Founders (2)
- Albert Liusolefounded 2015-10-20
- Frank Changcofounderno longer at company
Former / Previously (1)
- Frank Chang Co-founderSEC-verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Kneron.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operator customers (1)
- Kneron2 deployments
Recent coverage
Kneron in third-party press
Peers
21 peers across 1 segment. Every Kneron competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
chip(21)
2 companies in this segment · highly_concentrated (HHI 6159.122085048011) · leader Kneron at 7407%
- Mythic AIdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Applied Materialsdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Aurriondirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- BYD Batterydirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- ByteDancedirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- ENSCOdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
Mentioned on (5)
Registry pages whose text names Kneron.
Robots and products (1)
People (4)
Financial state
- Total funding
- $97.0M
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
2 total · 1 just announced
Every company Kneron has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Kneron x TSMC2023-08-16with TSMCinferred
Most-frequent partners
- 1GlobalFoundries1× joint1 total
- 2TSMC1× joint2 total
All 2 partnerships
open in the atlas →- technology—just announced
- Kneron x TSMCwithTSMC2technology2023-08-16inferred
Funding rounds (2)
Kneron’s 2 disclosed rounds, $97M in total, oldest to newest.
- Series B+2023-09-26
$49M(reported)
Investors: Foxconn (Hon Hai) (lead)
- Series B2022-10-24
$48M(reported)
Investors: Horizons Ventures (lead), Foxconn (Hon Hai) (strategic), Liteon, ADATA
Timeline
Every recorded move in Kneron’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
New supplierNew supplier: TSMC
2026-08-23Supply: TSMC for Kneron from TSMC
Funding roundSeries B+ funding round
2023-09-26Series B+ raising $49000000
Funding roundSeries B funding round
2022-10-24Series B raising $48000000
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdJun 7, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment recordedJun 1, 2024
KL730 at United States
- Deployment recordedJun 1, 2024
KL730 at Germany, Europe
Sources (1)
Common questions
What is Kneron?
What does Kneron make?
Is Kneron publicly traded?
Who competes with Kneron?
Who is the CEO of Kneron?
How can I invest in Kneron?
Where is Kneron headquartered?
How much funding has Kneron raised?
Who owns Kneron?
Where does Kneron operate robots?
How many robots has Kneron deployed?
Is Kneron a top robotics company?
When was Kneron founded?
Is Kneron safe?
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-10
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-10
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Kneron.Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics12 models
- DJI9 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Orbbec6 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- SIYI Technology5 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Kneron from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Kneron's new AI chip brings LLM performance out of the cloud and onto devices
Kneron announced the KL1140 NPU chip, the first capable of running full Mamba networks at the edge, with four chips scaling to 120 billion parameters at one-third to one-half the…
Kneron unveils lower-cost, energy-efficient AI chip
Kneron launched the KL730 NPU chip manufactured on TSMC's 12nm process, targeting autonomous vehicles, servers, and smart home applications with Hanwha and Quanta Cloud as…
Kneron Unveils the KL730 AI Chip, Propelling Low-Energy GPT Solutions at Scale
Kneron announced the KL730 auto-grade NPU chip with integrated ISP, delivering 3-4x energy efficiency improvement and supporting lightweight GPT models at the edge.
AI startup Kneron secures $48 million to provide next-gen on-device AI inferencing module
Kneron raised $48 million in Series B funding led by Horizons Ventures, with Foxconn and other strategic investors participating, bringing total funding to over $140 million.
Kneron Enters The Autonomous Car Race
Kneron entered the autonomous vehicle market with strategic initiatives including the acquisition of OTUS, a VIVOTEK subsidiary, to accelerate edge AI for autonomous driving…
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/kneron.md
- RSS feed: /companies/kneron/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/98b0240e-894b-400e-be6a-ab039bba9b89
- Revision history: /companies/kneron/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics12 models
- DJI9 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Orbbec6 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- SIYI Technology5 models
Video
Established in San Diego in 2015, Kneron is a leading provider of edge AI solutions. It is dedicated to the design and development of integrated software and ha
In this segment from the GSA Awards Celebration, Albert Liu, founder and chairman of Kneron, joins theCUBE’s John Furrier to discuss the evolution and commercia
Albert Liu, CEO at Kneron, discusses the company's business strategy and the outlook for the edge AI market. He speaks with Shery Ahn and Annabelle Droulers fro
Kneron CEO, Albert Liu, unveils a Neutral Processing Unit (NPU) chip designed to outperform traditional Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) chip in AI applications.
What do investors consider when considering AI projects? Find out in this panel discussion moderated by CNBC's Arjun Kharpal who is joined by Nancy Yang of Clou
Edge AI panel including Romeo Durscher of DJI, David Hung of AAEON, and our very own Davis Chen of Kneron discuss the status and use cases of AI on device. Mode
The new X AI camera AI based object detection
Heat Index
Category contender79/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Kneron draws attention at the 63rd percentile but verifies reality at the 36th percentile among other robots. Hype Gap +27, 71st widest among other robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 2 verified deployments. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 20, 2026