{"id":104889,"date":"2026-03-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=104889"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:50:17","slug":"rimal-secures-bridge-round-from-keheilan-to-design-semiconductors-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/04\/rimal-secures-bridge-round-from-keheilan-to-design-semiconductors-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Rimal secures bridge round from Keheilan to design semiconductors at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rimal Semiconductors<\/a><\/strong> is positioning itself as a \u201cgeopolitical hedge\u201d <\/strong>for the <\/strong>global semiconductor supply chain<\/strong> after securing a bridge round from Keheilan Asset Management<\/a> and an undisclosed regional investor, CEO Houssam Salem tells EnterpriseAM. The funding amount was not disclosed<\/p>\n

The \u201ctwo camps\u201d problem:<\/strong> Global semiconductor manufacturing is currently split between the US and China, forcing companies to align with one side, and often face restrictions or refusal when trying to supply the other.<\/p>\n

Rimal\u2019s fabless model<\/strong> \u2014 designing chips but outsourcing the manufacturing \u2014 allows it to maintain contracts across Taiwan, Korea, and China, and it is currently in talks with US foundries to complete the circle, Salem tells us.<\/p>\n

\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

By keeping the IP Saudi-owned but diversifying the manufacturing footprint<\/strong>, Rimal can supply the same design files to any market. \u201cIf the design is Saudi, and the manufacturing is happening in China, the US, or Taiwan, you can supply the whole world,\u201d Salem says.<\/p>\n

Rimal is already inking a distribution agreement with a major distributor to export its <\/strong>designs<\/strong>. The distributor operates offices in Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and the UAE, supported by local technical engineers who can provide on-the-ground support in each market.<\/p>\n

Don't expect a multi-bn-USD Saudi foundry (the actual factory) just yet.<\/strong> Salem argues that building a foundry now \u2014 a massive state-level investment \u2014 would fail without a local ecosystem to drive demand. The priority is to build \u201cfabless\u201d design firms first, followed by assembly and testing (OSAT), and finally the foundry.<\/p>\n

Rimal has six live contracts in the pipeline<\/strong> \u2014 including one with a major Egyptian corporation. Contracts are being finalized with clients in the defense, power grid, and data center sectors, Salem told us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rimal has six live contracts in the pipeline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2556],"tags":[10,2137,179],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-104889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-watch","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-semiconductors","tag-startup-watch","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"23d7695f-4ea0-40b0-bb96-b6868463ee1e","order":"10","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/223.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Rimal is Saudi\u2019s first semiconductor designer","related_issue":[104872],"teaser":"Rimal has six live contracts in the pipeline"},"yoast_head":"\nRimal secures bridge round from Keheilan to design semiconductors at home - KSA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/04\/rimal-secures-bridge-round-from-keheilan-to-design-semiconductors-at-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rimal secures bridge round from Keheilan to design semiconductors at home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rimal has six live contracts in the pipeline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/04\/rimal-secures-bridge-round-from-keheilan-to-design-semiconductors-at-home\/\" 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