The former chairman and chief executive of Ningbo Semiconductor International Corp (NSI), an affiliate of top Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), is facing criminal charges that include embezzlement and bribery, more than a year after he was kicked out of the company he founded in eastern Zhejiang province in 2016.
Herb Huang He, a former US citizen who was once widely lauded for his contributions to China’s semiconductor industry, and NSI ex-financial chief Wang Ying have been put “in the criminal judicial judgment process” on suspicion of “committing serious crimes”, following their removal from senior management, according to a company statement on Tuesday.
The statement, which was signed by NSI general manager Le Zhiping who had taken over the reins of the company from Huang, did not provide details about the alleged crimes. The firm also did not provide an explanation about Huang’s ouster in April last year.
Huang could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The headquarters of Ningbo Semiconductor International Corp in the city of Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang province. Photo: Handout
NSI, which combines chip foundry operations with customised product design and service support, is focused on special-process semiconductors for 5G communications and mobile terminals, intelligent home appliances and industrial control, industrial Internet of Things and medical electronics.
Its initial investors included China IC Capital, a wholly-owned investment fund of SMIC, as well as industry funds including Ningbo Senson Electronics and Hua Capital. It later received a 500 million yuan (US$68.7 million) investment from the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as China’s Big Fund.
The boardroom battle-turned-criminal investigation at NSI has come amid the latest executive reshuffle at SMIC, which has been on Washington’s trade blacklist for more than two years, and US-led export restrictions on advanced chip-making equipment to China.
Advertisement
So far, few official Chinese media outlets have reported on this recent development at NSI.
Huang, who previously worked with SMIC founder Richard Chang Rugin, was recognised by the municipal government of Ningbo as one of the city’s 10 “outstanding talents” in 2019.
Chinese media reports in 2021 praised Huang for leading a team at NSI that achieved a technological breakthrough. The company was credited with developing the Suspended Acoustic Separated Film Resonator, a technology that delivers multiple functions of radio frequency signals such as high-performance screening and noise reduction.
After graduating with a PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1994, Huang spent three years at US data storage company Seagate Technology before joining SMIC in 2002, according to his LinkedIn page. He spent 14 years at SMIC, where he focused on MEMS sensors, CMOS chips and 3D integrated circuits.
Advertisement
Le, the new top executive at the helm of NIS, is “working diligently at his position”, according to the company’s statement on Tuesday. It said Le was now “trying his best to clarify the problems left over from the company’s history and remedy the damage” caused by Huang and other people.
