History
Tsinghua Unigroup was founded in 1988 as a spinoff of Tsinghua Holdings, a state-owned enterprise affiliated with Tsinghua University, a major state research university in Beijing.[7] The company was founded as Tsinghua University Sci-Tech General Company,[8] then renamed Tsinghua Unigroup in 1993.[9] Tsinghua Unigroup is a fabless semiconductor company that is 51 percent owned by Tsinghua Holdings and 49 percent owned by Beijing Jiankun Investment Group; the latter is led by Tsinghua Unigroup chairman and CEO Zhao Weiguo.[8][10] Zhao, a graduate of Tsinghua University, was also appointed CEO of Tsinghua Unigroup in 2009, then made board chairman in 2013.[11] He chaired several of Tsinghua Unigroup's subsidiaries, including Unisplendour and Unigroup Guoxin Micro, until 2018.[12] Zhao remains CEO and chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC).[13]
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.[14][15][16]
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.[6] In July 2015, Tsinghua Unigroup attempted to acquire U.S. chipmaker Micron for USD 23 billion.[17][18] 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.[19][20] In 2016, Tsinghua Unigroup partnered with Western Digital to establish a big data storage joint venture, Unis WDC Storage Co. in Nanjing[21]
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.[22] Other investments include about a six percent stake in Portland, Oregon-based Lattice Semiconductor, acquired in 2017.[23]
In June 2018, Tsinghua Unigroup acquired French smart chip components maker Linxens for a reported $2.6 billion.[24][25] 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.[26] 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.[27] The company broke ground in September 2019, and construction of a main factory building was completed in July 2020.[28]
Default and reorganization
On November 16, 2020, Tsinghua Unigroup defaulted on $198M in bonds, resulting in a credit downgrading from AA to BBB and triggering cross-defaults.[10][29][30]
It emerged on July 11, 2021, that one of the creditors of Tsinghua Unigroup - Hong King-listed Huishang Bank - has requested that the company go into bankruptcy. Defaults at that time amounted to $3.6 billion for several onshore and offshore bonds. According to analysts, assets of barely $8 billion are surmounted by $30 billion in debt.[31][32][33]
