Li Bin (who also goes by Brighten Li), founder of Wise Road Capital. Credit: JLQ Technology
These are turbulent times for China’s top semiconductor firms and financiers. Corruption probes launched in recent weeks have ensnared senior executives at some of China’s largest chip funds and firms, including the head of China’s giant state-backed chip investment fund and the ex-chief of Tsinghua Unigroup, China’s one-time leading chipmaker.
Against this backdrop, Wise Road Capital looks like a new favorite in China’s chip investment space. The Beijing-based private equity firm recently won a competitive bidding war to bail out Unigroup, becoming a key shareholder in the financially embattled conglomerate. It’s also embarked on some headline-grabbing deals overseas that dovetail with the Chinese government’s industrial policy objectives.
Yet little is known about the background of Wise Road, which was founded just six years ago. Its secrecy, as well as the opacity with which it conducts its deals, is arousing suspicion in international national security cir
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