A new richest person in Shandong Province is born.
The market has never been so bullish on the optical industry.
In April this year, the market values of two optical module giants, Zhongji Xuchuang and Xinyisheng, exceeded 100 billion and 60 billion respectively, and their stock prices have more than tripled in just one year. Amid the excitement, an octogenarian has seen the most significant increase in wealth: Wang Weixiu, the actual controller of Zhongji Xuchuang. As early as 2016, he took a bold step and acquired a startup in Suzhou, and since then, he has stepped back and only holds shares.
Ten years later, Zhongji Xuchuang's market value has exceeded one trillion yuan. The 17.47% stake held by Wang Weixiu and his concerted actors corresponds to a market value of over 170 billion yuan at one point. According to the Hurun Rich List, a new richest person in Shandong has emerged.
This might be the most miraculous investment in the history of China's hard tech investment. Looking back, there are also a group of people who bet on Zhongji Xuchuang in the early days - they exited earlier or later, but ultimately received the rewards that transcended the economic cycle.
From 2.8 billion to 1 trillion
The luckiest investment in history
Perhaps even Wang Weixiu himself didn't expect that he would suddenly become the actual controller of a listed company with a trillion - yuan market value at the age of 76.
It all boils down to the "snake swallowing the elephant" - style acquisition he finalized when he traveled from Shandong to Suzhou ten years ago.
Zhongji Xuchuang's predecessor was Zhongji Equipment, which originated from Longkou Zhenhua Electric Special Equipment Factory founded by Wang Weixiu in 1987. It specialized in manufacturing motor winding equipment for household appliances such as washing machines and went public on the Growth Enterprise Market in 2012.
However, the good times didn't last long. As the dividends in the household appliance market faded, the motor manufacturing business declined. Zhongji Equipment's financial report in 2015 started to show concerns: its net profit had been declining for four consecutive years to only 5.59 million yuan, and it even began to sell assets to raise funds.
This company was Wang Weixiu's life - long effort. He wanted it to survive, and the fastest way was to acquire a high - quality asset. After much searching, in 2016, Wang Weixiu found Liu Sheng, a returnee doctor who was starting a business in Suzhou, and offered 2.8 billion yuan to acquire his Suzhou Xuchuang.
The two companies had their own shortages and needs - at that time, Suzhou Xuchuang had a good reputation in the optical module industry. It could earn one or two hundred million yuan a year and was favored by overseas giant Google. On the other hand, Suzhou Xuchuang had just failed in its attempt to list on the US stock market and needed a listing platform to expand financing channels. Zhongji Equipment was already listed on the Growth Enterprise Market. Although it didn't make much money, its asset - liability structure was very healthy.
Nevertheless, this was still a "do or die" decision.
The acquisition amount of 2.8 billion yuan was five times the total assets of Zhongji Equipment at that time and more than three times the net assets of Suzhou Xuchuang. To acquire Suzhou Xuchuang, Zhongji Equipment, which was short of cash, issued shares to raise supporting funds, and Wang Weixiu himself contributed 284 million yuan to subscribe for shares to support this acquisition.
After that, Liu Sheng stepped forward, while Wang Weixiu, as the actual controller, voluntarily stepped back and delegated power. Zhongji Equipment was renamed Zhongji Xuchuang, and its main business completely shifted to the core business of Suzhou Xuchuang, optical modules.
Retiring after achieving success is exactly like this. Unexpectedly, this 2.8 - billion - yuan investment would become a legend ten years later.
Since 2024, the explosion of AI computing power has ignited the demand for high - speed optical modules. After Zhongji Xuchuang's net profit exceeded 5 billion yuan, it soared to 10 billion yuan in 2025. Meanwhile, in April 2025, Zhongji Xuchuang's stock price soared from a low of 66 yuan per share and reached 919 yuan per share in April this year, with its market value exceeding 1 trillion yuan.
Today, behind the trillion - yuan Zhongji Xuchuang, Wang Weixiu and his concerted actors, with a combined 17.47% stake, have a book market value of up to 170 billion yuan, once surpassing the 135 billion yuan of the Zhang Gang family on the Hurun Global Rich List and becoming the new richest person in Shandong.
Those who invested in the early days
Actually, Wang Weixiu is not the only one who saw the "light".
The outside world may not know that a group of investors stood behind Suzhou Xuchuang before it got the "status" of a listed company.
Yuanhe Holdings can be said to be the earliest key backer. At that time, Liu Sheng, who had just obtained his doctorate in the United States and had not yet started his business, was noticed by Suzhou, which was vigorously cultivating the science and technology innovation industry.
In April 2008, with the support of Suzhou Zhongxin Venture Capital (the predecessor of Yuanhe Holdings) and others, Liu Sheng returned to China to found Suzhou Xuchuang. As an early investor, Suzhou International Science and Technology Park not only dispatched a professional team to assist the company in successfully completing the inspection and review of key customers but also introduced investment institutions for financing on many occasions.
Subsequently, when Suzhou Xuchuang had been established for only two years and had not yet made a profit, Qianrong Holdings, a local venture capital institution in Suzhou, took a fancy to the technical skills of Liu Sheng's team and participated in the first - round domestic investment with 650,000 US dollars. In this round of financing, Qianrong Holdings was the only private institution. "Suzhou Xuchuang faced difficulties in multiple dimensions at that time. We always fought side by side and provided support, and finally reaped rich rewards," the chairman of Qianrong Capital once said about this investment.
The figure of an executive from SF Holding also appeared among the early investors.
In 2012, an institution called Guyu Capital participated in the Series B financing of Suzhou Xuchuang. Information shows that its founder, Lin Zheying, is the vice - chairman of SF Holding. He previously worked in the Ministry of Commerce in foreign investment management and had promoted many international investment and foreign - invested projects such as Carrefour. Later, this investment brought substantial returns to Guyu Capital.
Almost at the same time, Lightspeed China also noticed Suzhou Xuchuang. Mi Qun, the former founding partner of Lightspeed and now the founding partner of Photosynthetic Ventures, had worked at Google and Intel for many years. These experiences made him predict that the rapid growth of cloud computing would force a significant increase in the fiber - optic data transmission rate in data centers. So, in 2013, Lightspeed made a decisive move and invested in Suzhou Xuchuang.
Time came to 2016. At this time, Zhongji Equipment acquired Suzhou Xuchuang by issuing shares. Institutions such as Yongxin Ark and Shanghai Xiaocun Assets came at this time and subscribed for shares at a price of 13.54 yuan per share. Finally, Zhongji Equipment raised nearly 490 million yuan.
Among them, Yongxin Ark made a heavy bet. The investment community learned that at that time, it was the second year since Wei Yong founded Yongxin Ark, and Suzhou Xuchuang was the first project invested by Yongxin Ark after its establishment, with a single - bet amount exceeding 180 million yuan.
A portrayal of hard tech investment
From Suzhou Xuchuang to Zhongji Xuchuang, we have witnessed a scene of hard tech investment transcending the economic cycle.
An undeniable background is that around 2010, when Suzhou Xuchuang was in a dormant state and in need of financing, the most prominent theme in China's venture capital circle was undoubtedly the mobile Internet - it was the golden age of the era of traffic and the rise of platforms. Compared with a business model or a super APP that could achieve exponential growth within a few months, hard tech projects such as optical modules and underlying components often seemed to move slowly and even clumsily.
For example, in the case of chips, from the underlying design to material research, from customer introduction to yield improvement, a single failure in tape - out or a slight fluctuation in a set of test parameters could make all previous efforts go to waste. This tests the capital's respect for industrial laws and the ability to endure the long - term silence.
The early investment story of Cambricon is also the same. When Cambricon was only two months old, Yuanhe Origin led a 30 - million - yuan investment and became one of the earliest investors. Later, Fei Jianjiang of Yuanhe Origin recalled to the investment community: "At that time, the market had not reached a consensus on artificial intelligence investment, and the newly - established Cambricon was not well - regarded in the market." He couldn't help but sigh that great investments often come from non - consensus.
Looking back at the dawn of the AI era, the slow - paced logic that was once marginalized has finally come full circle.
Looking at the vast and continuously upgrading Chinese supply - chain landscape, most of the wealth - creating tides in the AI era originated from the silent sowing many years ago.
It's all about timing and fate. Hard tech investment is a long - distance journey, and those who are willing to endure the long - term silence will probably receive the gifts of time.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment Community" (ID: pedaily2012), author: Feng Yuchen, published by 36Kr with authorization.