Produced by Radar Finance | Written by Mo Enmeng | Edited by Deep Sea

Thanks to his generous donation of over RMB 5.3 billion in the past year, Yu Renrong, the leader of Will Semiconductor, surpassed Lei Jun to claim the title of "China's Most Charitable Person" for the first time.

Over the past year, Yu Renrong made three donations totaling 50 million shares of Will Semiconductor stock to the Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology Education Foundation. The first two donations were made in the name of Shaoxing Weihao, which Yu Renrong owns 99.9% of, while the third donation was made in his personal name.

Looking back in history, in 1984, the "Chinese Shipping Tycoon" Pak Yu-kong generously donated US$20 million to establish Ningbo University during his visit home. Decades later, Pak Yu-kong's philanthropy has been inherited and carried forward by Yu Renrong, the richest person in China's chip industry.

Born in a rural area, Yu Renrong's humble origins did not hinder his pursuit of success. Through his own efforts, Yu Renrong successfully gained admission to Tsinghua University. After graduation, he spent several years navigating the corporate world before deciding to venture into entrepreneurship. Under his leadership, Will Semiconductor underwent rapid development through a series of capital operations, propelling him to the top spot as China's richest person in the chip industry.

However, compared to his net worth of RMB 95 billion when he appeared on the Hurun Global Rich List 2022, Yu Renrong's wealth has shrunk by RMB 52.5 billion to RMB 42.5 billion on the latest Hurun China Rich List 2024, representing a decline of over half.

In recent years, Will Semiconductor's performance has also experienced ups and downs. The company's performance peaked in 2021 but slumped in 2022 and 2023. However, in the first three quarters of this year, Will Semiconductor's performance rebounded, with revenue increasing by 25.38% year-on-year and net profit surging by 544.74% year-on-year, although net profit has not yet recovered to the levels seen in the same period in 2021.

Additionally, Yu Renrong holds a relatively high proportion of pledged shares in Will Semiconductor, adding uncertainty to his wealth situation.

Surpassing Lei Jun, Yu Renrong Claims the Title of "China's Most Charitable Person" for the First Time

On November 12, Hurun Research Institute released the 2024 Hengchang Shaofang Hurun China Philanthropy List. The list includes cash and equity donations made between September 1, 2023, and August 31, 2024, as well as legally binding pledged donations. Large donations exceeding RMB 100 million made between August 31, 2024, and the release date are also included in the list.

Last November, on the occasion of Wuhan University's 130th anniversary, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun donated RMB 1.3 billion to his alma mater. This donation not only set a new record for the largest single donation received by Wuhan University since its establishment but also marked the largest individual cash donation ever received by a Chinese university.

Despite Lei Jun's generous donation to his alma mater, he could only rank second on the latest Hurun China Philanthropy List 2024, released by Hurun Research Institute. The entrepreneur who topped the list, surpassing Lei Jun, is Yu Renrong, the founder of Will Semiconductor, who claimed the title of "China's Most Charitable Person" for the first time.

On this year's list, Yu Renrong's donation amount reached RMB 5.3 billion, four times that of Lei Jun, who ranked second. This is the second consecutive year that Yu Renrong has appeared on the list, with his cumulative donations exceeding RMB 6 billion over the years. Lei Jun, who appeared on the list for the third time, has donated a total of over RMB 15 billion over the years.

Back in October this year, A-share listed company Will Semiconductor issued an announcement stating that the company had received a notification from its controlling shareholder Yu Renrong on the same day. To support the development of education and the construction of Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology, Yu Renrong planned to donate 25 million shares to the university's education foundation without compensation.

It is understood that the shares donated by Yu Renrong were acquired before the IPO and accounted for 2.06% of the total share capital of the listed company. Based on the closing price of RMB 111.95 per share on the announcement date (October 11), the market value of these 25 million shares was approximately RMB 2.8 billion.

After this donation, Yu Renrong's shareholding in Will Semiconductor will decrease from 29.52% to 27.46%. However, Will Semiconductor stated that this donation would not change the company's controlling shareholder or significantly impact its corporate governance structure or sustainable operations.

Radar Finance has found that the aforementioned donation is only part of Yu Renrong's generous contributions in recent years. Prior to this, Yu Renrong had already made multiple donations of his Will Semiconductor shares without compensation to support the development of education.

In March last year, Shaoxing Weihao Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), an action in concert with Yu Renrong, donated 10 million shares to the Ningbo Yu Renrong Education Foundation without compensation. In December of the same year, Shaoxing Weihao donated another 10 million shares to the Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology Education Foundation. In March this year, Shaoxing Weihao donated 15 million shares to the same foundation.

Including the donation disclosed in October, Yu Renrong and his concerted action persons have donated shares to education foundations four times, with a cumulative total of 60 million shares worth approximately RMB 6.2 billion.

Radar Finance has learned that the Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology, which is generously supported by Yu Renrong, is located in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. It is a new, high-level, international research university funded by social forces, supported by the national government, and co-constructed by provincial and municipal governments.

According to Tianyancha, the initial funding for Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology is RMB 500 million. Through Tianyancha's big data analysis, it is known that the university has invested in two enterprises and holds 33 patent information related to intellectual property rights.

The establishment of Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology can be traced back to 2020. At that time, Yu Renrong, a 1985 graduate of Zhenhai High School, decided to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Pak Yu-kong by donating over RMB 20 billion to build a new research university of science and technology in his hometown to high standards. Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology emerged against this backdrop.

In December 2022, the construction of the Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology campus was officially inaugurated. The university's permanent campus is located in Qingshuipu District, Zhenhai District, Ningbo, with a total planned land area of approximately 2,300 mu. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2025, with a planned core faculty or independent PIs of 600 and an enrollment of 10,000 students within ten years.

At the groundbreaking ceremony of Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology held at that time, Yu Renrong said, "I hope that every teacher here can focus on teaching and research without distractions. I expect every student here to immerse themselves in their studies, dare to innovate, and dare to challenge various technological problems. I also look forward to providing everyone with a space for independent thinking and free innovation. I am willing to work hard alongside you with all my enthusiasm."

Radar Finance learned from the official website of Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology that, starting from 2022 to August this year, the university has jointly recruited 245 doctoral students with top universities at home and abroad.

However, the university has not officially opened its undergraduate enrollment yet. According to previous announcements on the university's official website, Ningbo Dongfang University of Science and Technology will start undergraduate enrollment in 2025, focusing on five major fields: electronics and information, computer science, advanced manufacturing, data science, and material science.

From a poor rural boy to China's richest person in the chip industry

Before being honored as "China's Most Charitable Person," the 58-year-old Yu Renrong had already secured a place on various rich lists. This year, with a wealth of RMB 42.5 billion, Yu Renrong ranked 94th on the Hurun China Rich List. The enterprise that supports Yu Renrong's vast wealth empire is Will Semiconductor, which he founded.

Back to 1966, Yu Renrong was born into a rural family in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. Despite his humble background, Yu Renrong always cherished a deep desire for knowledge. He firmly believed that knowledge could change one's fate and, through relentless efforts, successfully entered Tsinghua University in 1985 as the top scorer in the Zhenhai College Entrance Examination.

It is worth mentioning that Yu Renrong's class, EE85 of the Radio Department at Tsinghua University, later became an important force in China's semiconductor industry. Industry leaders such as Zhao Weiguo from Unisplendour, Shu Qingming from GigaDevice, Feng Chenhui from RDA Microelectronics, and Zhao Lixin from GosunTech, all graduates of this class, have become pivotal figures in China's semiconductor industry.

Among this group, Yu Renrong was undoubtedly one of the outstanding talents. During his university years, Yu Renrong could even win the first prize in the school-wide mathematics competition the day after staying up all night playing mahjong. At the same time, Yu Renrong also demonstrated remarkable business acumen while studying at the university, earning his living expenses by "reselling" Haidian test papers.

After graduation, Yu Renrong joined Inspur Group as an engineer, marking the beginning of his career. However, he only stayed at Inspur Group for about two years before choosing to leave and join Hong Kong Longyue Electronics Beijing Office as a sales manager. Six years of work experience not only enriched his knowledge but also ignited his entrepreneurial passion.

In 1998, Yu Renrong decided to stop working for others and plunged into the entrepreneurial wave, becoming the chairman of Beijing Huaqing Xingchang Science and Trade Co., Ltd., and engaging in the business of electronic component trading and agency. Under Yu Renrong's meticulous management and the development dividends of the times, his company gradually grew into the largest electronic component distributor in Beijing.

However, Yu Renrong was not satisfied with the success of his distribution business. He was well aware that only independent research and development could give the company a competitive edge; otherwise, his company would always be following others. To avoid being at the mercy of others and not content with being a mere "high-level middleman," Yu Renrong founded Will Semiconductor in Shanghai in 2007, focusing on semiconductor product design, sales, and distribution, initiating a "two-legged" approach that emphasizes both independent research and development and distribution.

During its subsequent development, Yu Renrong demonstrated his outstanding capital operation abilities. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Yu Renrong successfully brought companies like Beijing Taihezhi and Wuxi Zhongpu Micro under Will Semiconductor's umbrella, further expanding its business into the SoC chip and RF chip fields. In 2017, Will Semiconductor successfully listed on the A-share market, shining brightly in the capital market.

In 2019, Yu Renrong once again showcased his prowess in capital operations. That year, Will Semiconductor completed the acquisition of 85.53% of the equity of Beijing GalaxyCore, 42.27% of the equity of Synaptics, and 79.93% of the equity of SightChip.

After this merger and acquisition deal, which was seen as a "snake swallowing an elephant" by the outside world, Will Semiconductor entered the CMOS image sensor field and became the world's third-largest image sensor solution provider, after Sony and Samsung.

Subsequently, Will Semiconductor's performance saw a significant leap. According to the company's 2019 annual report, revenue grew robustly by 40.51% year-on-year to RMB 13.632 billion. Simultaneously, the company's net profit attributable to shareholders surged more than twofold to RMB 466 million.

As performance soared, Will Semiconductor's share price also soared. In 2019, Will Semiconductor became the second semiconductor company in A-shares to surpass a market value of RMB 100 billion. Thanks to the continuous growth and expansion of Will Semiconductor, Yu Renrong's wealth also soared.

In 2021, Yu Renrong ranked on the Forbes Global Billionaires List with a fortune of US$12.3 billion, becoming the richest person in China's chip industry. In the Hurun Global Rich List 2022 released by Hurun Research Institute, Yu Renrong continued to hold the position of China's richest person in the chip industry with a wealth of RMB 95 billion.

However, according to the latest Hurun China Rich List data, Yu Renrong's wealth of RMB 42.5 billion this year has shrunk by a whopping RMB 52.5 billion compared to his wealth when he appeared on the Hurun Global Rich List 2022, representing a decline of over half.

Steering the Company Out of a Performance Slump, Yu Renrong Awaits His Third IPO

Behind the recent significant decline in wealth, Yu Renrong, hailed by the media as a "ruthless capitalist," has not had a smooth entrepreneurial journey. The company he leads, Will Semiconductor, has also experienced turbulence.

Radar Finance noticed that Will Semiconductor's performance peaked in 2021. That year, the company's revenue reached RMB 24.104 billion, an increase of over 20% year-on-year. During the same period, Will Semiconductor achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 4.476 billion, a year-on-year increase of 65.41%. In that year, Will Semiconductor set new records for both revenue and net profit since its listing.

However, in 2022, Will Semiconductor's performance took a downturn, with revenue decreasing by 16.7% year-on-year to RMB 20.078 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders plunging by 77.88% to RMB 990 million. Although revenue showed a slight recovery last year, with a year-on-year increase of 4.69%, net profit attributable to shareholders declined again by 43.89%.

It was not until the first three quarters of this year that Will Semiconductor finally dispelled the gloom of its performance slump. Financial reports show that in the first three quarters of this year, Will Semiconductor's revenue reached RMB 18.908 billion, an increase of 25.38% year-on-year, and its net profit attributable to shareholders achieved a remarkable leap to RMB 2.375 billion, a year-on-year increase of 544.74%. However, compared to the same period in 2021, when net profit was RMB 3.518 billion, Will Semiconductor's net profit attributable to shareholders in the first three quarters has not yet recovered to its best state.

Regarding the strong rebound in net profit attributable to shareholders, Will Semiconductor explained that, on the one hand, as the consumer market further recovers and downstream customer demand increases, along with the company's product introduction in the high-end smartphone market and the continuous penetration of autonomous driving applications in the automotive market, the company's revenue has achieved significant growth.

On the other hand, influenced by factors such as product structure optimization and cost control, the company's gross profit margin has gradually recovered. During the reporting period, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin was 29.61%, an increase of 8.33 percentage points year-on-year.

It is worth noting that in the company's 2023 annual report released earlier, Will Semiconductor mentioned the risk of a relatively high pledge ratio of the controlling shareholder's equity. Will Semiconductor stated that after confirmation with Yu Renrong and his concerted action persons, their current financial situation is sound, and they have the ability to repay loans on schedule. To date, there have been no instances of failure to repay loans or interest payments upon maturity.

Will Semiconductor also stated that if drastic fluctuations in the secondary market in the future pose a risk of liquidation of the pledged shares, Yu Renrong can take measures such as repaying the pledged loans in advance, adding margin, adding collateral, and negotiating credit enhancement with creditors and pledgees to prevent liquidation risks. Regarding the source of funds for debt repayment, Yu Renrong can raise funds through various financing methods, including but not limited to recovering investment returns and dividends, bank credit, mortgage loans, and selling assets or equity.

Radar Finance noticed that according to the "Announcement on Partial Pledge and Release of Pledge of Controlling Shareholder's Shares" issued by Will Semiconductor on September 28, Yu Renrong, as the company's controlling shareholder, holds 29.52% of the company's shares. After the change in this pledge situation, Yu Renrong has pledged a cumulative total of 180 million shares, accounting for 50.32% of his shareholding.

In fact, Yu Renrong has not only led Will Semiconductor to complete multiple successful mergers and acquisitions but has also frequently invested as an individual investor. According to media reports, Yu Renrong has invested in at least 10 private equity funds focused on the semiconductor industry.",

Yu Renrong, who is quite adept at capital operation, is waiting for his third IPO. In March last year, the IPO of Xin Henghui, located in Zibo, on the ChiNext board was successfully approved. However, more than a year has passed, and Xin Henghui has not yet been listed for trading.

After winning the title of "China's First Philanthropist", what new moves will Yu Renrong make next in the business field and charity? Leida Finance will continue to pay attention.