April 19th, TiZai World learned from the Silicon World that according to the annual report released by Zhong Micro Company (SHA: 688012) on Friday, YIN Zhixiao, founder, chairman and CEO of Zhong Micro Semiconductor, has given up his American citizenship and resumed Chinese nationality.

YIN Zhixiao was born in 1944, holding a bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1984 to 1986, he worked at Intel's Central Technology Development Department as a process engineer; from 1986 to 1991, he worked at Lam Research, serving as a senior engineer and senior manager in the R&D department; from 1991 to 2004, he worked at Applied Materials Inc., serving as the Chief Technology Officer of the headquarters of the plasma etching equipment product, Vice President of the company and General Manager of the Plasma Etching Business Unit, and Chief Technology Officer of the Asia-Pacific headquarters.

Zhong Micro Company (Zhong Micro Semiconductor), founded by YIN Zhixiao in 2004, is one of the major suppliers of etching and deposition tools in China and also one of the leading companies in China's semiconductor equipment sector. According to the financial report, since 2004, YIN Zhixiao has served as Chairman, General Manager, and core technical personnel of Zhong Micro Company.

It is understood that when founding Zhong Micro Company, YIN Zhixiao always presented himself as an American citizen. According to the annual report released by Zhong Micro Semiconductor in 2022, he was still an American citizen, while in the 2023 annual report, Zhong Micro did not disclose YIN Zhixiao's nationality. Now, by the 2024 annual report, YIN Zhixiao has changed his nationality, giving up his American citizenship and resuming Chinese nationality.

As for the specific reasons why YIN Zhixiao gave up his American citizenship and resumed Chinese nationality, Zhong Micro Company did not disclose more details in its financial reports, but insiders generally speculate that it may be related to the "American person" clause in the U.S. Department of Commerce's export control measures against China.

On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a series of semiconductor export control measures against China, including the prohibition for "American persons" to support entities engaged in the development or production of integrated circuits within certain facilities located in China without obtaining permission.

In August 2023, Zhong Micro Company announced that due to work adjustments, three American core technical personnel of the company, DU Zhiyou, MAI Shiyi, and LI Tianxiao, would no longer participate in the company's core technical research, thus they were no longer recognized as core technical personnel of the company, but they would continue to work in the company. At the same time, Cong Hai, Tao Heng, Jiang Yong, Chen Huanglin, Liu Zhiqiang, and He Weiye were newly recognized as core technical personnel of the company.

In September 2024, Zhong Micro Company once again announced that the board had received written resignation letters from two other American core technical personnel, NI Tuqiang and YANG Wei. NI Tuqiang resigned from his position as Deputy General Manager and core technical personnel due to personal reasons. YANG Wei resigned from his position as core technical personnel due to personal reasons. After their resignation, NI Tuqiang and YANG Wei will continue to work in the company.

At that time, Zhong Micro Company stated that their departure "would not have a significant adverse impact on the company's R&D progress, operational capabilities, or competitiveness."

The latest annual report shows that in 2024, Zhong Micro Company achieved revenue of 9.065 billion yuan, an increase of 44.7%, with etching equipment contributing over 7.2 billion yuan, an increase of 54.7%, firmly maintaining its position as the leader in domestic etching equipment. Over the past four years, the company's annual compound growth rate of revenue has exceeded 40%.

However, in 2024, Zhong Micro Company's net profit was approximately 1.616 billion yuan, a decrease of 9.5%, mainly due to the surge in R&D investment (R&D expenses reached 2.45 billion yuan, an increase of 94.3%), while the non-recurring profit was about 1.388 billion yuan, an increase of 16.5%.

Zhong Micro Company stated that the new product development process has significantly accelerated, usually taking three to five years. The company pointed out that developing "competitive" new equipment and "smoothly" commercializing it took less than two years.

In addition to releasing the annual report, on April 18th, Zhong Micro Company also announced that its controlled subsidiary, Ultra Micro Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ultra Micro Company), plans to increase capital and introduce new shareholders. After the capital increase, the registered capital will be 160 million yuan.

In this capital increase of Ultra Micro Company, Zhong Micro Company plans to add 50 million yuan in subscribed capital; Zhonghe Partnership plans to add 13.12 million yuan in subscribed capital; YIN Zhixiao plans to add 10 million yuan in subscribed capital; BEAMVISION plans to add 6.53 million yuan in subscribed capital. At the same time, Ultra Micro Company plans to introduce new natural person shareholders Chen Weiwen, Jiaxing Minghu Xinchu Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Jiaxing Lake Light Tongxin Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership). After this round of capital increase and corresponding equity incentives are completed, Zhong Micro Company's shareholding in Ultra Micro Company will decrease to 47.2%.

This is the second time in less than half a year that YIN Zhixiao's team has increased capital in Ultra Micro Company.

YIN Zhixiao previously stated that the next step would be to accelerate the development of electron beam detection equipment to make up for industry shortcomings. Currently, the self-control rate of main components domestically has reached over 90%, and by the end of the third quarter of 2024, it can reach 100%. In the field of semiconductor equipment, China is still quite far from the international advanced level, but it is believed that within 5 to 10 years, the goal of reaching the international advanced level can be fully achieved.

"I haven't seen any limits in the entire semiconductor equipment industry, nor any insurmountable obstacles technologically. We must grit our teeth and move forward patiently, step by step, and we will definitely succeed," YIN Zhixiao said.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7495299794202640932/

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