Haiwei Huaxin's Official Seal Seized by Over a Hundred People, High-Stakes Corporate Battle's 'Nuclear Deterrence' in Action Again
On August 18th, Haowei Huaxin, a semiconductor firm specializing in gallium arsenide and gallium nitride wafers, reported that over a hundred individuals forcibly entered its offices and seized the company's official seals from a safe, including the corporate, contract, and party committee seals. The incident is the latest escalation in a protracted control dispute.
Haowei Huaxin, established in 2010, was originally a joint venture. Control became contested after 2021 when Zhenwei Financial Holding injected capital, becoming the largest shareholder (34.01%), while former parent Haite High-Tech's stake was diluted to 33.79%. An agreed-upon governance structure collapsed, leading to mutual accusations. Haite claimed it was locked out of the subsidiary's premises, while also alleging improper management like livestock being kept on the chip fabrication site. After state-owned Qingdao Haiyue Holdings took over Zhenwei's stake in 2023, Haite accused it of illegally seizing control.
Despite Haite winning several legal battles in 2024-2026, which affirmed its rights to nominate directors and the chairman, it failed to regain physical control or recover the seals. The stakes are high: market valuations for Haite's stake in Haowei Huaxin are estimated between 3.7 to 5 billion USD, yet it is only valued at about 83 million USD on Haite's books. Losing control effectively jeopardizes a significant portion of Haite's value.
In response to the seal seizure, Haite framed it as a "shareholder rights protection" action agreed upon by five shareholders. This mirrors a pattern in Chinese corporate disputes where seizing physical seals becomes a tactic to paralyze the opponent's daily operations, seen in past conflicts at companies like Dangdang and Bitmain. However, such actions don't resolve underlying ownership issues; the opposing party can report the seals stolen, declare them void, and apply for new ones, albeit with significant delay.
The incident underscores how fragile corporate governance can devolve into physical confrontations over symbols of authority, with control ultimately determined by law and shareholding, not possession of a seal.
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