A two-year-old Shanghai-based developer of chip design software was behind an attempt to buy a British firm, a purchase that regulators blocked with little explanation in the latest example of Britain’s increasing hostility toward Chinese investment.
Super Orange HK Holding Ltd (香港超橙控股有限公司) was blocked from buying Bristol-based chip design software provider Pulsic Ltd, British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng said in a brief statement on Wednesday.
However, Super Orange is controlled by little-known Shanghai UniVista Industrial Software Group (上海合見工業軟件集團), according to Hong Kong public filings and Chinese corporate data.
Photo: Reuters
The Shanghai firm is backed by the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (國家集成電路產業投資基金) — a powerful US$50 billion state-backed vehicle known within the industry as the “Big Fund” (大基金).
It is unclear what roles Super Orange’s controlling shareholders played in the takeover attempt. Pulsic’s would-be acquirer was founded in Hong Kong in August last year by Nanjing Puxin Software, according to local filings.
That firm is wholly owned by UniVista, according to Chinese corporate database Tianyancha.
UniVista was incorporated only in 2020 and describes itself as a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) tools to the chip industry, or software kits vital to the design of semiconductors. Its No. 2 owner was the Big Fund, which typically bankrolls promising start-ups in their initial stages, according to Tianyancha.
Little is known about Puxin, the UniVista subsidiary that directly controls Super Orange. The office number listed in Puxin’s legal documents did not exist when Bloomberg News visited the Nanjing campus listed on Thursday. Several employees at the business park said the address does not conform with the usual format within the location.
The US has been leaning on allies from the UK to Japan to join in efforts to block China’s chip goals. Pulsic is also a player in EDA tools, employed by leading chipmakers ranging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to Intel Corp.
Beijing considers the sector, dominated by American firms Synopsys Inc and Cadence Design Systems Inc, a key bottleneck in its ambitions to build a world-class semiconductor industry and wean China off US technology.
Pulsic’s would-be acquirer — Super Orange HK Holding — had a sole and founding director identified as Zhou Nuo. He ceded his post in December to Xu Yun (徐昀), Hong Kong filings showed. Xu, the former head of Cadence’s Chinese business, is now a co-CEO at UniVista.
Xu, once named one of China’s most influential female chip executives, was also a director of the similarly named Super Orange HK Ltd, a separate entity founded in March that is wholly owned by Shanghai UniVista Technology. Her co-CEO is Pan Jianyue (潘建岳), who headed Synopsys Inc’s China and Asia-Pacific business before the pair founded the other UniVista Industrial last year.
Xu and Pan said in an interview in November last year that they harbor ambitions to not just replace US technology, but build a globe-spanning operation that can go toe-to-toe with the industry’s leaders.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from