Forehope Electronic (Ningbo) Co Ltd, a company that specializes in high-end integrated circuit packaging and testing, made the list of new global unicorns in the first half of 2022, bringing the total number of such companies in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province to four, according to the Global Unicorn Index 2022 Half-Year Report released by the Hurun Research Institute on Aug 30.

The other three listed companies from Ningbo are Zeekr Intelligent Technology Ltd, Rong Semiconductor (Ningbo) Co Ltd and Jenscare Scientific Co Ltd.

Geely's premium electric car brand Zeekr was ranked 58th on the list with a valuation of 60 billion yuan ($9.23 billion), followed by Rong Semiconductor (376th), Forehope Electronic (663rd) and Jenscare Scientific (873rd), which are worth 17 billion yuan, 10 billion yuan and 8 billion yuan respectively.

Founded in November 2011, Forehope Electric has been developing rapidly in recent years and was ranked among the top six domestic companies in IC packaging.

The company's revenue increased from 38.54 million yuan in 2018 to 748 million yuan in 2020, before climbing to 836 million yuan in the first half of 2021. Its net profit also surged to 108 million yuan in the first half of last year.

Led by companies including Rong Semiconductor and Forehope Electric, Ningbo's integrated circuit and related industries had a total industrial output value of 18.65 billion yuan in the first five months of this year, up 17.1 percent year-on-year, official statistics show.

Hurun has been tracking global unicorns since 2017. The index ranking the world's startups was introduced in the 2000s.

As of June 30, there were 1,312 global unicorns – companies worth more than $1 billion yuan but not yet listed on a public exchange - in the world.

These unicorns come from 48 countries and regions, with the United States leading the pack with 625 companies, followed by China with 312, in the first half of this year, according to the report.