Former Chinese chip boss gets suspended death sentence in corruption case
The verdict against Zhao Weiguo, former chairman of government-supported Tsinghua Unigroup, came more than two years after Chinese authorities first announced a corruption probe against him.
Zhao stepped down as chairman in 2022, around the same time when Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that he had been taken away by Chinese authorities for investigation.
Prosecutors accused Zhao of abusing his power to provide benefits to relatives and friends, as well as illegally acquiring state assets valued in 2023 at more than 470 million yuan, equivalent today to $65 million. He was also charged with arranging improper transactions that incurred losses for a listed company and resulted in more than 890 million yuan in economic losses for the state, equivalent today to $124 million.
On Wednesday, more than 19 months after Zhao stood trial in September 2023, the Intermediate People's Court in the northeastern city of Jilin sentenced the former executive to death with a two-year reprieve, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
Such penalties are typically commuted to life imprisonment.
The court said that Zhao's corrupt activities involved sums that were 'extremely huge, and caused especially severe losses to state interests," according to CCTV. The broadcaster said Zhao admitted guilt, expressed remorse and actively tried to return his illicit gains—qualifying him for a degree of leniency.
Zhao couldn't be reached for comment. Tsinghua Unigroup didn't respond to a request for comment.
Tsinghua Unigroup was once hailed as one of China's chip-making champions, with subsidiaries that produced chips for computers and mobile devices as well as cloud-computing infrastructure.
Zhao, who first joined the company in the 1990s, helped build Tsinghua Unigroup into a major player in semiconductors through an aggressive series of acquisitions—part of a government program to catch up with the West in chip-making capabilities.
To fund its chip expansions, Tsinghua Unigroup relied heavily on government support. Under Zhao, the company also invested in other sectors such as finance, education and media. Zhao stepped down as chairman in 2022.
In recent years, Tsinghua Unigroup has undergone a series of bankruptcy reorganizations after defaulting on billions of dollars in bonds. In 2022, the company completed a restructuring process that officially replaced its two former owners—China's elite Tsinghua University and a holding entity owned by Zhao—with a consortium led by two state-backed semiconductor venture-capital firms.
The case against Zhao, first announced in early 2023, was among a series of corruption probes that snared leading figures in China's semiconductor industry at the time, following years of aggressive investments that sometimes failed or stalled.
Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
19 minutes ago
- Time of India
Nepal, China steel may face duty evasion probe
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence may investigate steel imports from Nepal and China. This action aims to shield the Indian steel industry from substandard products. Nepal has become a major steel exporter to India. Concerns arise about Chinese steel being routed through Nepal. Some Chinese companies are allegedly falsifying quality compliance documents. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence could initiate a probe into steel imports from Nepal and China, a move aimed at protecting the domestic industry from cheap, substandard imports, said people familiar with the comes after Nepal emerged as one of the top three steel exporters to India despite the absence of significant manufacturing facilities, they said."In some instances, a Nepal-based company was exporting steel many times over its nameplate capacity," an official told ET on condition of triggered apprehensions of Chinese steel being routed through Nepal, as alleged by the Indian has unilateral duty-free access to the Indian market, allowing its exporters to send steel products to India without paying any duty. On the contrary, direct exports from China attract at least 12% safeguard share in India's finished steel imports during the first three months of this financial year averaged 15.93%, making the neighbouring country the third largest steel exporter to India during this another instance, China's Shangyang Steel wrote to India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade alleging that other Chinese companies were falsifying documents affirming quality compliance. Shangyang Steel holds a certificate issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)."The company alleged that other Chinese companies were misrepresenting the BIS certificate issued to Shangyang Steel and lying while exporting to India," the official month, the steel ministry issued a clarification saying that not only are finished and semi-finished steel imports required to adhere to quality control orders (QCOs) but also the raw material used as input needs to comply with the quality also found that some Indian importers with a BIS certificate were importing substandard steel products from China or Nepal and doing just cosmetic value addition to them."The QCO norms require importers not only to comply with the coating part for which it has certification, but also to ensure that the base material also sticks to quality norms," the official said.A BIS certificate is enforced through QCO, which the government order mainly affects the traders who act as middlemen in importing steel without adding any value to the steel. "MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are not affected by this order; it hurts the middle parties, and they are the ones who are creating a furore over this," the official added.
Time of India
38 minutes ago
- Time of India
Electric cars: Still needing a push?
People have been dreaming about electric cars for a long time. In fact, the first electric car, called the Electrobat, was already driving around in 1894! And in 1909, an electric car even beat a petrol (gasoline) car in a traffic race. So why aren't electric cars everywhere by now? Right now, only about 25 out of every 100 cars sold in the world are electric. That may sound like a lot, but most of these cars are made and bought in just one country — China. That means in the rest of the world, most people still use petrol or diesel cars, called ICE cars (short for internal combustion engine). Even Tesla, the most famous electric car company, is struggling. It's selling fewer cars in Europe, and it's making less money. One big reason Tesla made so much money before was by selling something called carbon credits — basically, rewards from the government for making clean cars. But those rewards are starting to go away, especially in the US. And soon, people in the US will also lose a big $7,500 discount they got for buying electric cars. China also spent a huge amount of money — around $231 billion — to help its electric car industry grow. Now, Chinese carmakers are building more cars than people want to buy, which is causing problems. This raises a big question: If electric cars are really the future, why do they still need so much help from governments? When Henry Ford built his Model T car in 1908, it cost $850. Within a few years, he made it so efficiently that it cost only $300 — and millions of people bought it. He didn't need any government help to do that. Electric cars are amazing for the planet. But maybe, just maybe, they need to learn how to survive without help — and roll forward on their own four wheels. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Even OpenAI's chairman struggles to keep up with AI: Bret Taylor calls the once-in-a-lifetime boom ‘insane'
— plzaccelerate (@plzaccelerate) Living through a technological renaissance You Might Also Like: Billionaire Vinod Khosla predicts AI teachers will disrupt education and careers. Here's how A human job in an AI world Bill Gates agrees: AI is a tool, not the artist You Might Also Like: Bill Gates predicts only three jobs will survive the AI takeover. Here is why If you've been struggling to keep pace with the whirlwind that is Artificial Intelligence , you're in good company. Bret Taylor , Chairman of OpenAI , the organization at the epicenter of the AI revolution , admits he too is barely able to stay afloat amid the relentless stream of a candid conversation hosted by South Park Commons with Aditya Agarwal, Taylor said, 'I am the chairman of OpenAI. I run a fairly successful applied AI company, and I have trouble keeping up with everything going on.' His words offer a rare moment of vulnerability in a world that often presents AI experts as unflappable makes his admission particularly striking is his vantage point. Taylor is not just on the frontline — he's in the command tower. From overseeing OpenAI's advancements to observing the competition's rapid rise, his plate is full. And yet, even he finds it dizzying. 'I'm probably most well situated in the world almost to do so… So it just feels insane to me right now,' he sees this turbulent moment as historic — and oddly poetic. 'I think it's a privilege... I hope you're enjoying being in this moment because... I think our society will be very different 10 years from now,' he said, reflecting on how rare it is to consciously live through such a transformative era. 'I pinch myself every day.'Indeed, the AI domain is experiencing something akin to a gold rush — except instead of panning rivers, companies are mining data and releasing new models almost weekly. OpenAI, once the undisputed leader, is now facing heated competition. Google's Gemini, Elon Musk's Grok, and emerging Chinese open-source platforms like DeepSeek and Kimi have challenged its dominance with increasingly capable on the product side, innovation is relentless. ChatGPT has become the fifth most visited website globally, but it's far from alone. New AI tools tackling niche tasks are sprouting up daily. OpenAI reportedly even attempted to acquire Windsurf, a rising AI startup — a sign of how closely it watches the this pace, Taylor offers a reassuring message: humans aren't being pushed out of the equation just yet. Speaking to Business Insider, he argued that formal computer science education remains more relevant than ever. 'Studying computer science is a different answer than learning to code, but I would say I still think it's extremely valuable,' he emphasized that such degrees instill systems thinking — a way of understanding how components interact in complex systems, which remains vital for innovation. He pointed out how topics like Big O notation, cache misses, and randomized algorithms teach the kind of structured logic that no AI model can fully Taylor's view is none other than Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In conversations on The Tonight Show, Gates predicted that programming will "remain a human job for at least a century.' His reason? Writing software isn't about typing code; it's about pattern recognition, judgment, and making creative like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT may streamline debugging and accelerate development, but Gates insists, 'They are power chisels, not replacement carpenters.' AI may help you shape the material, but the blueprint still comes from the human mind.
