“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, May 22 (Special Research Fellow Tian Xiao) Following the investigation of Ma Hong, the actual controller of Ruichuang Weina, last month, another position was recently added to the list of listed company executives to be investigated.

On May 13, ZTE Communications Co., Ltd. (hereinafter: ZTE) held the 20th meeting of the 10th board of directors and the 1st meeting of the 11th board of directors. Wei Zaisheng was elected chairman of the 11th board of directors at the meeting. This is his 7th year in this position.

However, just 3 days later, Paineng Technology, a listed company under ZTE and the “first energy storage share” of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, held the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Wei Zaisheng, who is also the chairman of Paineng Technology, did not appear. In the announcement, Paineng Technology stated that it “was unable to attend the meeting due to official duties.”

An even bigger turning point soon occurred. On the evening of May 19, Paineng Technology announced that ZTE Communications Co., Ltd., the controlling shareholder of the company, had received a notice from the Yongqing County Supervisory Commission that Wei Zaisheng, chairman of the company, was investigated and placed in custody. This “ZTE” veteran after 60, the chairman of a company listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and the “ZTE” companies behind it are facing unprecedented turmoil.

Since this year, executives of 9 listed companies have been detained, including Wei Zaisheng.

36 years of “ZTE Love”

Wei Zaisheng was born in 1962 and is 62 years old. He spent more than half of his life at a “ZTE” company.

In 1988, Wei Zaisheng graduated from Xi'an University of Technology with a bachelor's degree in mechanical manufacturing management engineering and directly joined Shenzhen ZTE Semiconductor Co., Ltd., and since then began an indissoluble relationship with the “ZTE Department”.

Four years after graduating from college, Wei Zaisheng served as Minister of Finance at ZTE Semiconductor. In 1993, when ZTE was founded, Wei Zaisheng was transferred to ZTE for another 4 years. During this period, he achieved great success in the positions of regional market general manager, assistant general manager, and financial director.

In 1997, ZTE launched the founding of ZTE, and “ZTE” founder Hou Weigui was transferred to the company. Wei Zaisheng was transferred to the company. Over the next 20 years, Wei Zaisheng was in charge of the company's finance and investment management, and served as financial director, senior vice president, executive vice president, and director. ZTE also became the first listed company under ZTE.

In October 2019, Paineng Technology, a subsidiary of ZTE, was founded. Wei Zaisheng became the chairman and led the company to the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange the following year.

Ren Zhengfei's 20-year old rival Hou Weigui sees him as his henchman

As Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei's old rival for 20 years, ZTE founder Hou Weigui loves Wei Zaisheng, a “ZTE veteran.” Recently, when Wei Zaisheng appeared in the public eye, he was in the same frame as Hou Weigui many times. According to media reports, on February 27, 2024, Hou Weigui, founder of ZTE and chairman of ZTE Weixiantong, and his entourage visited the Beijing branch of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory for research and exchange. ZTE Chairman Wei Zaisheng and others accompanied them.

After retiring from ZTE, Hou Weigui started a second business and spent 8 years building a new energy empire — ZTE. Along the way, Wei Zaisheng always accompanied him.

At the beginning of ZTE's establishment, Wei Zaisheng joined it as an executive. Since leaving behind the scenes, Wei Zaisheng became the company's legal representative and chairman. Wei Zaisheng recalled that the reason why ZTE is deploying new energy is due to “Hou Weigui's demand that the new business must not compete with ZTE peers, but also be related to future development.”

After starting to lay out the energy circuit, Hou Weigui founded ZTE Energy and later changed its name to Xingchu Century. Wei Zaisheng also became an executive. Subsequently, Paineng Technology, another holding company under ZTE, was established. On the eve of Paineng's listing in 2019, Hou Weigui handed it over to his most trusted “apprentice” Wei Zaisheng.

Hidden investment bosses

ZTE, with Wei Zaisheng as chairman, was founded in 1985 and officially established in 1993. It is now positioned as a “ZTE” capital operation platform. After more than 30 years of development, ZTE has grown into a large-scale investment holding group with total assets of 200 billion dollars and a number of listed and pre-listed companies. The investment industries cover fields such as information and communication, intelligent manufacturing, new energy storage, enterprise-level services (digitalization), and fund investment. Last year, it achieved revenue of 129.885 billion yuan.

As the chairman of a large investment holding group with assets of over 100 billion dollars, Wei Zaisheng is also involved in the investment field. Gongqingcheng Xinwei Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), which holds 43.12% of the shares, is the 7th largest shareholder of Paineng Technology, accounting for 0.99% of the shares. Through Gongqingcheng Xinwei Investment, as well as platforms such as ZTE Wei and Guanghua Futing, Wei Zaisheng has invested in 1,879 surviving companies abroad so far. At the same time, including Paineng Technology, ZTE New Materials, etc., there is Wei Zaisheng in the IPO process of “ZTE” companies.

During his tenure at ZTE, Wei Zaisheng was already quite good at dealing with capital. He has creatively introduced the export buyer credit concept into the domestic telecom market. This is a type of credit service provided by domestic financial institutions to foreign importers, which can quickly return capital and seize the market. The first domestic case where a Chinese and foreign bank jointly arranged a credit business for an export buyer occurred with ZTE.

In 2004, ZTE successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the first “A+H” share in mainland China, raising HK$3.5 billion. At the time, Wei said to the outside world that the company will also raise 30 billion yuan through the sale of bonds and bank loans to continue expanding overseas.