Funding
$200.0M
Models
1
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
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
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Key facts
CEO
Total funding
Manufacturing process
Developer platform
Key customers
Financial stage
Foundry partners
Data & sources
Web sources
1
1 source backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Kneron on the deployment map
Where Kneron's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Relationships
Current leadership (3)
- Albert Liu Founder & CEOSEC-verified
- Roger Liu Chief Operating OfficerSEC-verified
- Alice Feng Chief Financial OfficerSEC-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 →
Recent coverage
Kneron in third-party press
Peer companies
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Lightwheel3 models
- ATI Industrial Automation2 models
- Anvil Robotics2 models
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- growth
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
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.
Funding rounds (2)
- 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
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Review status verifiedVerifiedJun 19, 2026
unreviewed -> reverified
- Record createdJun 7, 2026
Added to the verified registry
Sources (1)
Common questions
- What is Kneron?
- 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.
- What does Kneron make?
- Kneron has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: KL730 (Kneron builds physical robots).
- Who competes with Kneron?
- On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Kneron building in the same form factors include DJI, Boston Dynamics, Robotphoenix, Lightwheel.
- Who is the CEO of Kneron?
- Albert Liu is the ceo of Kneron, per the DEPLOY registry.
- Where is Kneron headquartered?
- Kneron is headquartered in San Diego, California, USA.
- How much funding has Kneron raised?
- Kneron has raised approximately $200M in disclosed funding on record in the DEPLOY registry.
- Where does Kneron operate robots?
- Kneron is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
- Is Kneron a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Kneron ranks in roughly the top 47% of companies tracked by the registry.
- When was Kneron founded?
- Kneron was founded in 2015.
- Is Kneron safe?
- Kneron has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-17
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-17
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
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Lightwheel3 models
- ATI Industrial Automation2 models
- Anvil Robotics2 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
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Lightwheel3 models
- ATI Industrial Automation2 models
- Anvil Robotics2 models
Reality vs attention
Kneron draws attention at the 19th percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among other robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to 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: Jul 21, 2026