Zhang Xuezheng, chairman and CEO of Wingtech, speaking at the 2020 Wingtech Global Elite Partner Conference, October 19, 2020. Credit: Wingtech
Wingtech Technology is taking flight. The once little-known Chinese designer of low-end smartphones has become a major contractor for Apple and aspiring semiconductor producer — and the subject of international controversy over its acquisition of U.K.-based chipmaker Newport Wafer Fab.
For Wingtech, that deal is just one of several savvy investments that it’s made in the last five years, as the company seeks to muscle its way into China’s burgeoning chips industry. This week, The Wire takes a closer look at Wingtech Technology: its rapid growth, its evolving business and its investors.
RAPID RISE
Wingtech, based in Jiaxing in the coastal province of Zhejiang, was founded in 2006 by Zhang Xuezheng, an engineer who had worked stints at Dutch chipmaker STMicroelectronics and Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.
The timing of Wingtech’s launch was fortuitous, with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 ushering in a new era for smartphones. Zhang seized the oppo
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Wang Wentao, the Chinese Commerce Minister, in Washington. It marked the first cabinet-level meeting in Washington between the U.S. and China during the Biden administration, and it was a signal of the Commerce Department’s increasingly central role in the current U.S.-China relationship. Usually, the Commerce Department is far from the center of anything, but as Katrina Northrop reports, the department is uniquely suited to address the China challenge.
The lawyer and author talks about the attack on a train in the 1920s which created an international incident, the rise of the Communist Party and the conditions for foreign media in China today.
