The richest man in Yichun with a fortune of 160 billion yuan is going public.

Author/Wu Qiong, Wang Lu

Report/PEdaily of the Investment Community

Another "Yi Zhongtian" is about to go for an IPO.

Recently, Tianfu Communication issued an announcement stating that the company plans to issue H-shares and list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the spotlight is the founder, Zou Zhinong, who is about to ring the bell again.

Born into a rural family in Jiangxi, Zou Zhinong graduated from Jilin University of Technology with a bachelor's degree. In 2005, after years of experience in the manufacturing industry, he founded Tianfu Communication. With a ceramic ferrule, he broke the monopoly of foreign companies. In 2015, Tianfu Communication successfully listed on the Growth Enterprise Market. Now, riding on the wave of AI computing power, it has become extremely popular, with its market value exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Looking back at 2025, the "Three Musketeers of Yi Zhongtian" have been on a steady upward trajectory. Some have made a fortune, while others left too early and missed out on the dividends.

The Rise of the Richest Man in Yichun

Zou Zhinong is the man behind Tianfu Communication.

In 1968, he was born into an ordinary rural family in Yichun, Jiangxi. Later, he became one of the few college students of his generation. In 1991, after graduating from the Department of Mechanical Design and Manufacturing at Jilin University of Technology, he was assigned to work at the Siping Blower Factory in Jilin Province, landing a secure job.

In 1995, with the reform sweeping across the country, 27-year-old Zou Zhinong bravely jumped into the business world. Later, he and his wife, Ou Yang, moved to Suzhou and founded Haoyi Digital Network Co., Ltd., specializing in integrated wiring projects.

During this period, Zou Zhinong discovered a new problem - the ceramic ferrules widely used in wiring projects play a crucial role in the precise connection of optical fibers. If the quality of the ceramic ferrules is subpar, the communication signals will be affected. However, at that time, this material was almost monopolized by Japanese companies, and the prices were extremely high.

So, in 2005, Zou Zhinong, Zhu Guodong, and Ou Yang founded Tianfu Precision Ceramics Co., Ltd. in the Suzhou Industrial Park, which is what we know today as Tianfu Communication. The product that started it all was a ceramic ferrule the size of a grain of rice.

At the beginning of the startup, it took the R & D team more than half a year just to figure out the sintering curve. It wasn't until they overcame the technical difficulties of nano-ceramic sintering and improved the process to reduce costs that they gradually replaced Japanese imports.

Taking the breakthrough in the ceramic ferrule product line as an opportunity, Tianfu Communication gradually developed two core business segments: the overall solution business for passive optical devices and the advanced optoelectronic packaging business. Its products can be applied in fields such as AI computing power centers, data centers, telecommunications, and optical sensing.

Along with the wave of going global, Tianfu Communication has also established a clear global layout: it has set up its domestic and overseas headquarters in Suzhou and Singapore respectively, established R & D centers in Japan, Shenzhen, and Suzhou, and built mass production bases in Jiangxi and Thailand. Now, Tianfu Communication's products are sold in more than 20 countries and regions overseas, providing hundreds of millions of optical communication components to the world every year.

In 2015, Tianfu Communication successfully listed on the Growth Enterprise Market, becoming the first listed company in the domestic optical communication component industry.

Since 2016, Zou Zhinong has been on the rich list thanks to Tianfu Communication's business empire. Subsequently, with dividends, proceeds from share sales, and rising stock prices, his wealth has been on the rise. According to the "Hurun Rich List 2025", the Zou Zhinong family's wealth reached 65.5 billion yuan, ranking him as the richest man in Yichun.

Riding on the Nvidia Express Train, Sales Soar This Year

The sharp rise of Tianfu Communication's stock price is still fresh in our memory.

Since the beginning of this year, Tianfu Communication's stock price has risen by more than 220%. It has made it onto the top-active list five times, and its latest market value has exceeded 160 billion yuan.

If we look at the long - term trend, when Tianfu Communication listed on the Growth Enterprise Market, its issue price was only around 20 yuan, and its market value was less than 10 billion yuan for several years. However, since 2023, its stock price has been rising for three consecutive years. Especially this year, from less than 40 yuan in April to over 200 yuan at the end of August, its market value officially exceeded 100 billion yuan, an astonishing increase.

So, what exactly has happened to Tianfu Communication?

Actually, the answer is not hard to guess. In 2023, in the AI revolution triggered by ChatGPT, the demand for AI computing power soared. The concept of CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) set off a wave in the optical module industry, and Tianfu Communication's stock price rose significantly.

This year, the AI competition has intensified, giving an extra boost to the "Yi Zhongtians". As we all know, Nvidia has made a fortune by providing computing power for AI training with its GPUs. However, the transportation function of optical modules is equally important. "If data transmission can't keep up, it's like being stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. No matter how powerful the computing power is, it's useless," an industry insider explained. Therefore, as partners, GPUs and optical modules are indispensable.

So, riding on the "Nvidia concept stocks", the "Yi Zhongtians" took off.

It's worth noting that Tianfu Communication does not directly produce optical modules. Instead, it provides the core component of optical modules - the optical engine. Zou Zhinong once clearly stated in an interview that he adheres to not making his own brand of optical modules. He will never compete with customers. Instead, he provides optical device products and service support for high - quality global optical module manufacturers.

It is precisely this positioning that has unexpectedly created a win - win situation for Tianfu Communication: it is a core supplier to Nvidia. While other competitors are vying for the optical module market, Tianfu Communication provides the core components they all need. In this way, it avoids competition and enjoys the overall growth dividends of the industry.

According to the company's financial report for the third quarter of 2025, its cumulative operating income this year reached 3.9 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 63.63%. Tianfu Communication explained in the announcement that "the growth is mainly due to the development of artificial intelligence and the increasing demand for computing power. The construction of global data centers has led to a continuous and stable growth in the demand for high - speed optical device products."

The story continues. Just as the story of "optical modules" is reaching a climax, Google's TPU chips have suddenly entered the scene. Simply put, when the theoretical computing power is the same, the TPU cluster requires more optical modules than the GPU cluster. As Google challenges Nvidia's dominance, the "Yi Zhongtians" have new growth expectations.

According to the latest research, Tianfu Communication has successfully locked in the production capacity of high - end optical chips from Lumentum (Google's supplier). On December 9th, Tianfu Communication's stock price hit a record high of 242 yuan, and its total market value once exceeded 185 billion yuan.

In response to the abnormal fluctuations in the company's stock price, Tianfu Communication issued an announcement, revealing its latest plan: to continuously promote the company's internationalization strategy and global layout, build an international capital operation platform, further improve the company's governance level and core competitiveness, and support the company's high - quality development. The company is currently planning to issue H - shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

A Wealth Feast

This year's super dark horse is undoubtedly the "Yi Zhongtian".

Referred to as the "Three Musketeers of Optical Modules", New Fiberhome, Zhongji Innolight, and Tianfu Communication have all seen their stock prices rise in tandem since April this year, all reaching historical highs:

New Fiberhome's stock price has soared from less than 100 yuan at the beginning of the year to over 400 yuan, almost quadrupling, and its market value has exceeded 400 billion yuan;

Zhongji Innolight is not far behind, with its market value once exceeding 700 billion yuan;

Even the relatively low - key Tianfu Communication has seen its stock price rise several times, with a market value exceeding 160 billion yuan.

Under this grand feast, those at the forefront are the first to taste the sweet fruits. Wang Weixiu, the actual controller of Zhongji Innolight, with a stock market value of nearly 60 billion yuan, has successfully topped the list of the richest people in Yantai, Shandong, according to the data from the "Hurun Global Rich List 2025".

In addition, Tianfu Renhe, the controlling shareholder of Tianfu Communication, announced a share - selling plan in November, cashing in about 1.3 billion yuan. Gao Guangrong, the actual controller of New Fiberhome, sold 11.4307 million shares to institutional investors through inquiry - based transfer at a price of 328 yuan per share in October, cashing out about 3.749 billion yuan.

The ripples of wealth are spreading, and the company's employees have also benefited from this wave.

According to the financial report, Zhongji Innolight's third - phase employee stock ownership plan covers about 250 employees. They sold 2.4968 million shares in the second quarter of this year. Calculated at 145 yuan per share at the end of June, this employee stock ownership plan could cash out about 360 million yuan - with an average paper profit of about 1.45 million yuan per person.

It's worth noting that Zhongji Innolight also launched a fourth - phase restricted stock incentive plan in April this year, granting a total of 8.88 million shares of the company to 752 incentive recipients at a price of 54 yuan per share. Calculated at the current stock price, the value has increased several times, and a new round of wealth effect is brewing.

It's a bit of a pity that the early investors who firmly bet on the company in its early days didn't get to see this glorious moment.

Outsiders may not know that even before Tianfu Communication entered the capital market in 2015, some investment institutions had already quietly laid out. Institutions such as Suzhou Tiante, Shenzhen Qianzhen, Hangzhou Fengtai, and Chongqing Qihou have accompanied the company through the long years of growth.

However, in this decade - long race, most of them have quietly withdrawn and gradually faded out of the list of the company's major shareholders, leaving only the backs of their early bets, hidden in the footnotes of the industry's rise.

Looking back at this wave of AI - driven wealth creation, it's like a surging tide. Some have reaped the dividends with foresight, while others have rushed in with large sums of money. However, the script of the capital market is always complex: the climax may not be the end, and entering the market may not guarantee catching the last act.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment Community". Author: Wu Qiong, Wang Lu. Republished by 36Kr with permission.