Tsinghua Unigroup has five main subsidiaries, New H3C Technologies, UNISOC Communications Co, Guoxin Micro, and UniCloud Technology Co. Other subsidiaries include Unisplendour Corp Ltd. and France-based Linxens, a design and manufacturing company of micro-connectors for smart cards, RFID antennas and inlays.^[1]

U.S. technology company Intel owns a 20 percent stake in Tsinghua Unigroup’s UNISOC subsidiary—a consolidation of Tsinghua Unigroup acquisitions of Spreadtrum Communications, a fabless semiconductor company, and semiconductor components manufacturer RDA Microelectronics.^[2][3][4] Tsinghua Unigroup operates a joint venture with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), as H3C Technologies Co, created after Tsinghua Unigroup purchased a 51 percent stake.^[5][6]

Origins edit

Tsinghua Unigroup, established in 1988 by Tsinghua Holdings—a wholly-owned business unit of Tsinghua University, a prominent state research university in Beijing—originally operated as Tsinghua University Sci-Tech General Company. The name was subsequently changed to Tsinghua Unigroup in 1993. Functioning as a fabless semiconductor company, Tsinghua Unigroup was previously entirely owned by Beijing Zhiguangxin Holdings Limited ("Zhiguangxin"). However, as of July 11, 2022, Zhiguangxin no longer possesses an actual controller. In the same period, during the fifth session of Tsinghua Unigroup's Board of Directors, Li Bin was elected as the board chairman and concurrently appointed as the general manager of Tsinghua Unigroup.

21st century edit

In the years 2013 and 2014, Tsinghua Unigroup undertook acquisitions that included Spreadtrum Communications, now recognized as UNISOC. Spreadtrum is a fabless semiconductor enterprise known for its mobile chipset platform development. During the same period, Tsinghua Unigroup also acquired RDA Microelectronics, a manufacturer of semiconductor components. These acquisitions resulted in the amalgamation of Spreadtrum and RDA, forming the entity known as UniSpreadtrum RDA, subsequently renamed as UNISOC. A notable development was Intel Corp.'s investment of $1.5 billion for a 20 percent stake in this venture.^{[7] [8][4]}

In May 2015, Tsinghua Unigroup acquired a 51 percent stake in Hewlett-Packard’s H3C Technologies, a China-based data-networking company, for approximately $2.3 billion.^[5][6] In September 2015, Western Digital announced that Unisplendour would make a US$3.775 billion equity investment to purchase its newly issued common stock, for about a 15 percent stake in the U.S. firm. Western Digital stated, in February 2016, that Unisplendour would not move forward with its offer following a decision by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to investigate the deal.^[9][10] In 2016, Tsinghua Unigroup partnered with Western Digital to establish a big data storage joint venture, Unis WDC Storage Co. in Nanjing^[11]

In 2016, Tsinghua Unigroup founded Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), its IDM memory subsidiary. In 2017, Tsinghua Unigroup announced plans to build two new memory-chip factories, in Nanjing and Chengdu.^[12] Other investments include about a six percent stake in Portland, Oregon-based Lattice Semiconductor, acquired in 2017.^[13]

In June 2018, Tsinghua Unigroup acquired French smart chip components maker Linxens for a reported $2.6 billion.^[5][14] A restructuring proposal that would have Guoxin Micro acquire Unic Linxens (formerly Unigroup Liansheng) was rejected by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in June 2020.^[15] In 2018, Tsinghua Unigroup also announced the construction of a $1.9 billion Linxens plant in the Tianjin Binhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Area in Tianjin, China.^[16] The company broke ground in September 2019, and construction of a main factory building was completed in July 2020.^[17]

Financial issues edit

On December 7, 2020, Tsinghua Unigroup publicly disclosed its liquidity constraints. As of November 16, 2020, the company faced challenges in raising funds for repayment. This resulted in the inability to fully honor the debt repayment for the debt financing instrument known as 17 Uni PPN005, which constituted a repudiatory breach. The cumulative amount of matured debt Tsinghua Unigroup is obligated to settle is RMB 1.3 billion.

On July 8, 2021, it was reported that Huishang Bank, a creditor of Tsinghua Unigroup, had initiated bankruptcy reorganization proceedings by filing an application with the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.

On July 16, 2021, the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court made the decision to accept the reorganization case of Tsinghua Unigroup. Concurrently, the court appointed Tsinghua Unigroup's liquidation team as the administrator tasked with overseeing the reorganization process.

On January 17, 2022, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled to approve a reorganization plan that involved the substantive consolidation of Tsinghua Unigroup and seven other enterprises. Additionally, the reorganization proceedings for both Tsinghua Unigroup and the seven other enterprises were terminated

The reorganization plan, endorsed by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, involves the Zhilu Jianguang Consortium as a strategic investor in the merger and reorganization of seven enterprises, including Tsinghua UniGroup. Led by Wise Road Capital and Jac Capital, the consortium intends to acquire 100% equity of Tsinghua UniGroup through its war investment acquisition platform, Beijing Zhiguangxin Holding ("Zhiguangxin").

On July 11, 2022, Tsinghua UniGroup has completed the registration procedures and 100% of the equity interest of Tsinghua UniGroup has been registered under Zhiguangxin.^[18]

As of July 12, 2022, the execution of the reorganization plan of Tsinghua UniGroup was completed.

In late 2021, two prominent funds—Beijing Jianguang Asset Management Co. and Wise Road Capital—appeared as new backers of Tsinghua Unigroup. On Jan. 17, a local court in Beijing gave the go-ahead to the consortium's restructuring plan for the company, thereby ending the reorganization proceedings.

In 2022, Beijing Zhiguangxin Holding took ownership of Tsinghua Unigroup. Beijing Zhiguangxin Holding's largest shareholder is Anhui state-owned fund Wuhu Xinhou Yunzhi Equity Investment Partnership.

In March 2023, Tsinghua Unigroup and its CEO has been accused of corruption by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The anti-fraud body accused Mr. Zhao of taking a state-owned company and using it to purchase goods and services run by his relatives and friends at prices significantly higher than the market price, leading to the company's financial issues.^[19]

In the field of technology, Tsinghua Unigroup invests mainly in Integrated Circuit design and information and communication infrastructure. Tsinghua Unigroup is the controlling shareholder of dozens of technology enterprises such as Unis, UNISOC, Guoxin Micro, Linxens, etc.

Guoxin Micro edit

Unigroup Guoxin Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (002049.SZ) provides IC chips for various applications such as mobilephone SIM card, finance IC card and POS machine, automotive MCU and smart connectivity IC for industry and IoT applications. In 2021, Guoxin Micro’s revenue was CN¥ 5.34 billion.^[20]

Unicloud edit

Unicloud Technology Co., Ltd. is an industrial intelligent manufacturer that develops urban and industry cloud platforms for the construction and operation of smart cities in China.^[21]

UNISOC edit

UNISOC is an IC design platform company. The company's products include mobilephone central processors, baseband chips, AI chips, low-power RF chips, and other IC chips for telecommunication, computing processor and controllers. Those products are used in consumer electronics and Internet of Things. In 2021, it gained an operating revenue of CN¥ 11.7 billion.^[22]

Linxens edit

Linxens is a smart chips components maker specializing in security and identification, such as flexible connectors used in smart cards and RFID antennas and inlays.^[23] In 2018, Tsinghua Unigroup, through its subsidiary Unigroup Liansheng, acquired Linxens for about US$2.6 billion.^[5][17] Founded in 1979, Linxens is headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France and, as of 2018, employs over 3,200 staff at nine production sites worldwide. It also has offices in China, Singapore and Thailand, and operates six R&D centers.^[24] In June 2019, Guoxin Micro announced a plan to acquire Unigroup Liansheng, including its main asset, Linxens.^[25] However, the deal was rejected by the Chinese securities regulator the following year.^[26]

Unisplendour (UNIS) edit

Unisplendour Corporation Limited is a provider of full-stack ICT infrastructure. It provides services for digitization, networking, computing, cloud computing, and smart terminals.^[27] Its subsidiary companies include H3C Technologies Co., Limited.^[28] Unisplendour Digital (Suzhou) Group Co., Ltd. and Unicompute Technology Co., Ltd., etc.^[29]