A 90-year-old academician from Fujian has created an invisible champion company valued at 6.7 billion yuan, and Lei Jun has invested in it.

A 90-year-old senior academician is starting a business with his son and is about to have a listed company.

Recently, Zhejiang Konghui Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Konghui Technology"), founded by the father - son duo Guo Konghui and Guo Chuan, has started the listing guidance and launched the A-share IPO process.

The core product of Konghui Technology is the air suspension for vehicles.

If you watch a car rally, you'll see the racing cars flying over ramps dozens of meters and landing steadily. Besides admiring, the audience would say that a set of suspension for such a car is as expensive as an apartment.

The suspension is an essential configuration for cars, and the air suspension is a high - end product among them. It was once only used in luxury cars worth millions. With the rise of new energy vehicles in China, car owners have found that cars worth around 200,000 yuan can also be equipped with it.

It is Konghui Technology that has brought down the price of the air suspension to an extremely low level, making it a configuration for family cars instead of being exclusive to luxury cars.

The latest valuation of Konghui Technology is 6.7 billion yuan, and well - known entrepreneurs such as Lei Jun are among its investors.

01

The air suspension is not something new. In 1901, an American named William W. Humphreys applied for a patent for a pneumatic spring for vehicles. As the material technology matured, it was gradually used in trucks, buses, and aircraft landing gears. However, the air suspension was expensive and prone to breakage, so it was not widely promoted.

Guo Konghui began researching air suspensions for trolleybuses as early as 1956. He was born in Fuzhou in 1935, a descendant of overseas Chinese businessmen. He studied at Tsinghua University, Beihang University, and Jilin University successively. His family once advised him to go abroad to inherit the family business, but Guo Konghui refused and was determined to stay in China to research automobile chassis.

Guo Konghui went through a long period of technology catch - up. In the era of fuel vehicles, all high - end suspension technologies were controlled by foreign companies.

In 2007, at the age of 72, Guo Konghui founded the predecessor of Konghui Technology, Changchun Konghui. He wanted to take a chance to put his years of technological accumulation into use.

In the early days, Changchun Konghui only provided technical consulting services, focusing on electronically controlled suspensions, and helped Dongfeng Mengshi and FAW Hongqi with project research and development.

Guo Konghui didn't manage the company but handed over the leadership to his son Guo Chuan, who had experience as a professional manager.

Guo Chuan found that only providing technical services led to slow development. To achieve industrialization, the company had to transform into product - making.

In 2018, Guo Chuan led two of Guo Konghui's students to Huzhou, Zhejiang, and established "New Konghui" (i.e., Konghui Technology), focusing on air suspensions.

At that time, the domestic air suspension market was blank, and foreign brands were dominant. No one dared to enter the market easily. Even a senior leader of a car factory advised them not to do it: "It's unrealistic to develop a self - owned brand. The sales scale is small, and the cost can't be reduced."

Guo Konghui didn't agree. He thought that only by having a self - owned brand could there be opportunities for R & D, and then opportunities to expand the scale and reduce costs. Guo Chuan was in charge of Konghui Technology, while Guo Konghui conducted R & D behind the scenes.

Konghui Technology repeatedly tested and iterated its technology. Its independently developed K & C test bench (the core experimental equipment for automobile chassis development, used to check the mobility and flexibility of the suspension) is only half the price of foreign equipment and quickly won the favor of automobile manufacturers.

In the seven years since its establishment, Konghui Technology has completed eight rounds of financing. Industrial capital such as Xiaomi and GAC Capital have all invested. Its post - investment valuation reached 6.7 billion yuan in 2025.

As of September 2025, it has delivered more than one million sets of air suspensions in total, ranking first in the domestic market share for two consecutive years.

02

Konghui Technology is not only a participant in the development of the domestic air suspension industry from scratch but also an epitome of the reconstruction of China's new energy vehicle industry chain.

VOYAH is both an early user and a real - sense partner of Konghui Technology.

In June 2021, Konghui Technology achieved mass production of air suspensions and supplied the first batch to the VOYAH FREE.

This set of suspension was jointly developed by both parties and has full independent intellectual property rights. All key components are produced by Chinese enterprises.

It can achieve a maximum up - and - down adjustment of 10 cm, adapting to different road conditions and making the driving experience of the VOYAH FREE comparable to that of high - end joint - venture cars.

Only seven months later, Konghui delivered 10,000 sets of air suspensions to VOYAH, becoming the first domestic supplier to achieve this feat.

After that, models such as the VOYAH Dreamer and the VOYAH Zhuiguang were also successively equipped with Konghui's air suspensions.

Following VOYAH, Li Auto also extended an olive branch to Konghui. Konghui provided air springs for models such as the Li L7 and Li L9. The two parties jointly developed and strictly controlled product quality.

Now, Konghui Technology occupies 40% of the domestic air spring market. In addition to VOYAH and Li Auto, Konghui Technology also supplies more than 20 automobile manufacturers such as ZEEKR, BYD, and Avatr, with more than 27 models being equipped.

03 

The rise of Konghui Technology is accompanied by the efforts of China's new energy vehicles to enter the high - end market.

The biggest problem during this period is the "strangulation" of core components.

High - end configurations such as air suspensions were once monopolized by overseas giants such as Continental and Vibrac. Foreign companies not only raised prices but also restricted supplies, making it difficult for domestic automobile manufacturers to enter the high - end market.

In addition, domestic cars also face two practical problems when trying to enter the high - end market.

One is the high cost. The high import price of high - end configurations forces automobile manufacturers to either compress profits or raise car prices, thus losing competitiveness.

The other is the lack of user trust. Consumers default that "domestic products are inferior to imported ones" and have concerns about domestic core components.

The process of Konghui Technology breaking the deadlock is not only about "dividing the cake" but also "making the cake".

First, independent R & D breaks the monopoly. Relying on the R & D system of Academician Guo Konghui, Konghui Technology has obtained more than 100 core patents.

It has developed a full - stack technical solution of "air spring + active stabilizer bar + dual - valve electronically controlled shock absorber + closed - type valve pump", realizing full - set technology self - control.

Secondly, strict cost control improves cost - effectiveness. The products of Konghui Technology are much cheaper than those of foreign companies while still guaranteeing quality. For example, the core R & D equipment such as the K & C test bench from Konghui Technology is only half the price of foreign products; the price of the air suspension system has dropped from 15,000 - 20,000 yuan per set for imports to 5,000 yuan per set.

The significant price reduction has an obvious impact on the market: In 2025, international leaders such as Continental and Vibrac have been squeezed out of the top three in the air suspension market.

Industry insiders have calculated that domestic air suspension companies can maintain operations with a gross profit of about 25%, while German manufacturers pursue a maximum gross profit of 40%. Leading foreign companies such as Continental and Vibrac have felt the pressure and strengthened their layout in the Chinese market. For example, in 2021, Continental launched an electronic suspension factory in Changshu, and Vibrac has launched projects and invested in factories in Wuxi, Chongqing and other places in recent years.

From delivering 10,000 sets to VOYAH to a cumulative delivery of more than one million sets, Konghui Technology has won market trust through direct competition with foreign giants.

04

To date, domestic automobile brands have emerged prominently, but there are still many opportunities for the automotive industry on the path to high - end development: Core equipment such as high - precision welding robots, punching presses with a capacity of more than 8,000 tons, and online inspection equipment; power battery materials such as solid electrolytes, high - nickel ternary materials, and lithium/cobalt resources; automotive intelligent components such as low - to medium - power chips, high - precision sensors, and automotive - grade SoCs, etc., are still dominated by foreign companies.

There are also many successful cases of breaking through, such as the three - electric systems, wire - controlled chassis, and intelligent cockpits, which have all achieved mass production and large - scale application.

The strategies of these successful cases still follow such a market path:

Accumulate technology to break the monopoly, use cost - effectiveness to squeeze out the bubbles, cooperate with downstream enterprises to be the first to try new things, and achieve qualitative change from quantitative change with limited resources.

Moreover, this process is like a set of gymnastic movements. One may get distracted during it, and a single mistake may ruin the whole competition.

According to China Automotive News, Guo Chuan recalled that in 2019 when the company was short of funds, an investment institution offered a valuation of 300 million yuan on the condition of taking control of Konghui Technology. Guo Chuan hesitated and planned to agree if the valuation could reach 350 million yuan. Fortunately, the deal didn't succeed. Looking back, he still felt scared. "It's hard to imagine what would have happened if the company had been controlled by someone who didn't understand the industry."

On the road to counter - attack, the belief in technology is also indispensable.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews). The author is Chengshide. It is published by 36Kr with permission.