Keep pulling the thread on Dr. Leo Li.
Spreadtrum's technology for the TD-SCDMA (China 3G) standard was so advanced that Qualcomm licensed Spreadtrum's intellectual property.
Intel invested $1.5 billion in cash for a 20% stake in Spreadtrum.
Spreadtrum successfully collaborated with Intel to tape out a 4G baseband chip using Intel's x86 CPU architecture and its 14nm foundry process.
Under the leadership of Dr. Leo Li, Chinese chip company Spreadtrum grew its market valuation from $35 million to over $7 billion.
In 2008, Spreadtrum's revenue dropped to zero, its workforce was cut from approximately 1,500 to 500 employees, and its stock price fell to around 65 cents per share.
Spreadtrum was sold to Unigroup at a price of $32.50 per share, at which time the company had revenues of $1 billion and a net profit of $100 million.
Dr. Leo Li argues that U.S. export controls on advanced chips inadvertently force China to accelerate its own indigenous semiconductor development.
U.S. government restrictions now legally prevent American-based VCs from investing in Dr. Leo Li's AI chip startup, Blue Ocean Technologies.
Major U.S. tech companies, including IBM and Microsoft, have closed their research and development centers in China.
Dr. Leo Li believes European companies cannot compete with those in China or the US due to a less intense work culture.
According to a recent survey in the U.S., only 2% of Generation Z possess the work values that hiring managers are seeking.
Dr. Leo Li believes China's semiconductor industry, particularly in AI, is still behind the United States and playing a "catching up game."