Former chairman of the Chinese Tsinghua Unigroup Zhao Weiguo, who had vowed to acquire Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and merge with MediaTek, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Wednesday (14th) for embezzling billions of yuan.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, the Intermediate People’s Court of Jilin City in Jilin Province publicly pronounced the verdict on the 14th. Zhao Weiguo was found guilty of corruption, illegally profiting for family and friends, and breaching trust to harm the interests of a listed company. He was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for embezzlement, deprived of political rights for life, and had all personal assets confiscated.
The court documents stated that from 2018 to 2021, Zhao Weiguo took advantage of his position as chairman of the Tsinghua Unigroup to conspire with a close associate, Li Luyuan, to illegally misappropriate state assets worth over 470 million yuan.
Additionally, from 2014 to 2021, Zhao Weiguo handed over the profit-making business of his unit to Li Luyuan and other specific associates, causing a “direct economic loss to the state” of over 890 million yuan.
Furthermore, in 2019, Zhao Weiguo instructed directors of a listed company under his control to lease company projects to a company operated by Li Luyuan at a price significantly below market value, resulting in the listed company suffering economic losses of over 46.45 million yuan.
Media reports had previously dubbed Zhao Weiguo as the “chip maniac.” Under his leadership, the Tsinghua Unigroup, with core enterprises such as Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd., Tsinghua National Microelectronics Co., Ltd., Tsinghua Unisplendour Co., Ltd., and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd., held significant positions in high-tech fields such as cloud computing, chip design, and storage.
Now 58 years old, Zhao Weiguo graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University (originally the Department of Radio Electronics) and joined Tsinghua Unigroup, a school-enterprise partnership.
In 1997, Zhao Weiguo participated in the first capital operation after the listing of Tsinghua Tongfang, involving the acquisition of a wireless radio plant in Jiangxi. In 2010, Zhao Weiguo became the chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup and began a series of mergers and investments.
During his visit to Taiwan in 2015, Zhao Weiguo publicly proposed buying a 25% stake in TSMC to gain controlling power. He also advocated for merging MediaTek with Tsinghua Unigroup’s chip design business and urged Taiwan to lift investment restrictions on China in the chip sector.
In April 2018, Zhao Weiguo accompanied party leader Xi Jinping to visit the Wuhan Semiconductor Factory, a subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup. As a result, Tsinghua Unigroup was regarded as a key player in China’s semiconductor sector.
However, despite the glory of Tsinghua Unigroup, in recent years, it has faced uncontrolled expansion. When Zhao Weiguo became general manager in 2009, Tsinghua Unigroup had assets worth about 1.3 billion yuan. By the end of 2019, Tsinghua Unigroup’s total assets reached a peak of 297.8 billion yuan, a 229-fold increase within a decade.
In November 2020, Tsinghua Unigroup defaulted on its debt, triggering a debt crisis.
On July 16, 2021, Tsinghua Unigroup entered bankruptcy reorganization proceedings in the First Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing.
On July 16, 2022, Zhao Weiguo, former co-president of Tsinghua Unigroup, and Dia…