The richest man in chips, donated 2.8 billion yuan!

Yu Renrong, the "richest man in chips", is about to make another move: in order to create Ningbo Oriental University of Technology, he decided to donate equity with a market value of about 2.8 billion yuan.

Yu Renrong is a leading figure in China's chip industry, and his founder of Weir Co., Ltd. (603501) is one of the world's top 10 fabless semiconductor companies. Prior to this donation, in order to support the development of education, Yu Renrong and his concerted actors had donated about 3.4 billion yuan of equity three times.

The market value of donated shares is as high as 2.8 billion yuan

On the evening of October 11, Weir announced that the company received a notice from the controlling shareholder Yu Renrong that in order to support the development of education, support Ningbo Oriental University of Technology to apply for approval and construction, infrastructure engineering and prepare for the construction of various personnel, scientific research and teaching resources required by the school, and fund the Education Foundation of Ningbo Oriental University of Technology to carry out charitable activities, Yu Renrong plans to donate 25 million shares of the company he holds to the Education Foundation of Ningbo Oriental University of Technology free of charge.

Weir Co., Ltd. is a leading enterprise in the semiconductor industry in mainland China, mainly engaged in chip design business Fabless chip design company. In the first half of 2024, the company achieved operating income of 12.091 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.367 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 792.79%.

As the controlling shareholder of the company, Yu Renrong currently holds 358 million shares of Weir shares, accounting for 29.49% of the total share capital of the listed company. After the completion of the donation, the company's shares directly held by it will be reduced to 333 million shares, accounting for 27.46% of the company's total share capital.

The secondary market shows that on October 11, Weir shares closed at 111.95 yuan per share. In other words, according to the above 25 million shares, the market value of the donated shares is about 2.8 billion yuan.

The recipient of the above donation, Ningbo Eastern University of Technology Education Foundation, was officially established in June 2023 and is the fundraising body of the endowment fund of Ningbo Eastern University of Technology (tentative name), which is committed to supporting the development of the university.

Ningbo Eastern University of Technology is a university under construction, located in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. In December 2022, the foundation stone of the campus of Ningbo Eastern University of Technology (tentative name) was officially laid. With a total planned land area of about 2,300 acres, the campus is located between the higher education park and the manufacturing sector of Yongjiang Science and Technology Innovation Zone, which is the area with the most potential for the development of Ningbo's science and technology innovation industry. The permanent campus is expected to be completed in 2025. After that, the university will begin to recruit undergraduates, with a planned enrollment of 10,000 students in ten years, and a ratio of undergraduates, masters, and doctorates of 4:3:3.

"The richest man in chips" traces the origin of running a school

Yu Renrong was born in 1966 in Ningbo, Zhejiang. According to previous media reports, in 1985, Yu Renrong was admitted to the radio EE85 class of Tsinghua University as the top student in the college entrance examination in Zhenhai District, which opened his indissoluble bond with radio.

After graduating from university, Yu Renrong worked as an engineer in Inspur Group, and later served as the chairman of Beijing Huaqing Xingchang Technology and Trade Co., Ltd. and the executive director of Beijing Jinghongzhi Technology Co., Ltd. In 2007, Weir was officially established in Shanghai. Ten years later, in 2017, Weir shares were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

With a wealth of 95 billion yuan in 2022, Yu Renrong ranked 132nd on the "Hurun Global Rich List" and became the richest man in China's chip industry.

According to previous media reports, Yu Renrong returned to his hometown of Ningbo for inspection in 2020. During this period, he proposed a plan to donate funds to build a school of higher learning in his hometown and township. Subsequently, the local official revealed the overall plan - "Yu Renrong, an alumnus of Zhenhai Middle School in the class of 85, studied with Mr. Bao Yugang (who donated funds to found Ningbo University in 1984) and decided to donate more than 20 billion yuan to build a new research university of science and engineering with high standards in his hometown." Ningbo Eastern University of Technology (tentative name) came into being.

A year later, the Ningbo Municipal Government and the Ningbo Yu Renrong Education Foundation held a signing ceremony for cooperation in running a school. According to the official introduction, the two sides will jointly build a "high-level, innovative and international" new research university, tentatively named Ningbo Oriental University of Technology. Among them, the Ningbo Institute for Advanced Study of Oriental Institute of Technology is the entity of the university in the preparatory period, which is responsible for the construction of a permanent campus on the north bank of the Ningbo Yongjiang River.

According to the official website of the school, in the past four years of preparation, the school has made remarkable phased achievements in campus construction, talent introduction and education, doctoral joint training, discipline setting, major construction, internal governance, etc., and the preparatory work has entered the second half.

He has donated about 3.4 billion yuan of equity three times

Combing through the announcement, it can be found that since 2023, Yu Renrong has donated his Weir shares for the development of education many times.

On February 28, 2023, Weir Co., Ltd. received a notice from Shaoxing Weihao Equity Investment Fund Partnership (hereinafter referred to as "Shaoxing Weihao"), the controlling shareholder acting in concert, that in order to support the development of education and fund Ningbo Yu Renrong Education Foundation to carry out charitable and public welfare activities, Shaoxing Weihao plans to donate 10 million unrestricted tradable shares of the company it holds to Ningbo Yu Renrong Education Foundation free of charge. According to the closing price of Weir shares on the day of donation, the 1,000 donated equity has a market value of 857 million yuan.

On December 6, 2023, Weir Co., Ltd. received a notice from Shaoxing Weihao, the controlling shareholder, that in order to support the development of education and fund the Education Foundation of Ningbo Oriental University of Technology to carry out charitable and public welfare activities, Shaoxing Weihao plans to donate 10 million shares of the company it holds to the Education Foundation of Ningbo Eastern University of Technology free of charge. According to the closing price of Weir shares on the day of donation, the market value corresponding to the donated equity exceeded 1.043 billion yuan.

On March 20, 2024, Weir Co., Ltd. received a notice from Shaoxing Weihao, the controlling shareholder, that in order to support the development of education and fund the Education Foundation of Ningbo Oriental University of Technology to carry out charitable and public welfare activities, Shaoxing Weihao plans to donate 15 million shares of the company it holds to the Education Foundation of Ningbo Eastern University of Technology free of charge. According to the closing price of Weir shares on the day of donation, the donation is worth about 1.499 billion yuan.

In other words, in the previous three donations, the market value of Shaoxing Weihao's donated shares has reached about 3.4 billion yuan. Coupled with the 2.799 billion yuan this time, the total number of equity donations for four times is about 6.2 billion yuan.

Why donate this time? The announcement pointed out that according to the relevant requirements of the Ministry of Education, when declaring the formal establishment of the school to the Ministry of Education, it is necessary to provide proof of assets sufficient to support the construction and stable development of the school.