Great Wall Motor Chairman Accelerates Layout in New Energy Fields

Wei Jianjun, Founder and Chairman of Great Wall Motor (GWM), Eric Li, Chairman of Geely, and Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD, are all top executives of China’s leading new energy vehicle manufacturers. Compared with the heads of other domestic auto firms, Wei tends to operate in a very low-key manner, but the new energy business map he has been developing is impressive.

On October 21, GWM announced that it plans to use its own funds with Wei Jianjun and Wensheng Technology (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. to jointly establish Xindong Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., with registered capital of 50 million yuan ($6.85 million). Wensheng Technology, which is actually controlled by Wei Jianjun, has subscribed capital of 35 million yuan in the new company, accounting for 70% and making it the largest shareholder of Xindong Semiconductor.

According to a report by STAR Market Daily, in addition to holding a 99% share in Wensheng Technology, Wei Jianjun also indirectly holds shares in four related companies, including Hebei Synlight Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and Wuxi UtmoLight Technology Co., Ltd., all of which are new energy companies. It can be seen that Wei Jianjun’s layout in the field of new energy has grown to cover batteries, photovoltaics, semiconductors, automated driving and vehicles.

In October last year, Wuxi UtmoLight Technology, which focuses on photovoltaic perovskite, completed a pre-A round of financing totaling 220 million yuan. The investors included Country Garden Venture Capital, JZ Capital, CCB International and Yunlin Fund, while its controlling shareholder Wensheng Technology made additional contributions. In March this year, securities firm Huatai United Securities released a counseling report on the IPO of Hebei Synlight Semiconductor. The chip firm also signed an agreement with GWM at the end of last year, while the latter took a stake as the leading investor. GWM stated that this move means that it has “officially entered the third-generation semiconductor industry.”

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In addition to directly investing in the above-mentioned new energy companies and Wensheng Technology, Wei Jianjun holds a number of partnerships, which have invested in several companies and private equity investment funds. These companies and funds are mostly related to the new energy field.

For example, Wei Jianjun holds 99% of the shares in Beijing Lvzhichaowan Technology Co., Ltd. The company holds 41.18% of Great Wall Motor Holding Group Co., Ltd., which has invested extensively in a number of projects, including automated driving startup Haomo.AI, battery developer SVOLT and Great Wall Motor Car-Sharing Project.

In terms of funds, Wei Jianjun holds 69.99% of Fengneng Chuangfu Investment Management (Qingdao) Partnership (Limited Partnership) and 30% of SVOLT Investment Management (Shandong) Co., Ltd. The other 50% of the shares of the latter are held by Wensheng Technology. Public information shows that SVOLT Investment Management has contributed at least 11 funds, and a large part of these funds have been set up in the second half of this year. At present, there is no public record of foreign investment made by these funds.

With such an expansive layout within the new energy field, GWM will probably no longer be seen as just an automobile firm in the future, but will instead become a comprehensive new energy company.