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.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a