Engaging with scientists and stepping into laboratories. After returning from overseas studies to teach at his alma mater, Peng Chao, a professor at Peking University's School of Electronics, consistently held an ambition to translate his research findings into industrial applications. As the head of Peking University's Advanced Photonic Integration Platform, which is part of the National Key Laboratory of "Photon Transmission and Communication," Professor Peng's specialized research is at the global forefront, attracting many interested parties. Faced with the conventional paths of taking venture capital to start a company directly or selling patent rights to a firm for a one-time transfer, he opted for a third route: partnering with the Forward-looking Technology Research Institute under LEGEND HOLDING. This collaboration allows for deep technological development while jointly advancing industrial implementation.
In January 2026, the "Peking University-LEGEND HOLDING Advanced Photonic Integration Technology Joint Laboratory" was established at Peking University. This initiative represents another attempt by LEGEND HOLDING to explore the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies. As a major player in the technology industry, LEGEND HOLDING saw its consolidated revenue surpass the 600 billion yuan mark in 2025, with total R&D expenditure across its ecosystem reaching 17 billion yuan.
Concurrently, the company makes new and follow-on investments in over 100 Chinese tech firms annually within frontier fields like AI, embodied intelligence, and commercial spaceflight. Maintaining this high-frequency investment pace, it is also seeking more efficient systems for incubating and investing in scientific innovation, aiming to systematically produce new technology star enterprises. "The phrase 'technological innovation' is ingrained in our corporate DNA," Chairman Ning Min stated, noting that LEGEND HOLDING's understanding of the concept continues to deepen.
Catching the Wave of Innovation By the end of 2025, two major domestic GPU players, Moore Threads and MetaX, had listed successively, with their stock prices experiencing astonishing surges. The market was surprised to discover that behind four chip giants each valued over a hundred billion yuan – Moore Threads, MetaX, Cambricon, and Hygon – were investments from the LEGEND HOLDING ecosystem. LEGEND HOLDING positions itself as a participant and enabler within China's technology ecosystem. Its footprint in the AI sector is particularly impressive, with cumulative investments in over 300 AI companies. It has established a full-stack layout covering the "infrastructure layer - technology layer - model layer - platform layer - application layer," making it one of the institutions with the longest tenure and most comprehensive coverage in AI investment in China. This deep involvement is not limited to AI. Through coordinated efforts across its platforms – including angel investor Legend Star, venture capital firm Legend Capital, private equity firm Hony Capital, and its internal venture arm Legend Venture Capital – LEGEND HOLDING has achieved coverage of the entire lifecycle of technology company growth. In 2025 alone, it invested in nearly 150 Chinese tech companies, spanning cutting-edge areas like biopharmaceuticals and brain-computer interfaces. Many prominent tech teams received crucial early-stage support from LEGEND HOLDING. Wang Mingyao, President and Managing Partner of Legend Star, recalled investing in Megvii when the team comprised just three young individuals, a time before the term "artificial intelligence" was even widely used. Legend Star provided both capital and operational support to help launch Megvii, an investment that later yielded substantial returns, reportedly peaking at over 2000 times the initial investment. In 2025, the number of IPOs from Legend Star's portfolio reached double digits. For instance, Idriverplus, which received investment starting from its angel round, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at year-end, becoming the "first autonomous driving stock for commercial vehicles." However, as LEGEND HOLDING ventures deeper into the tech innovation landscape, its management recognizes the increasing importance of accurately discerning and judging technological trends. In November 2025, Yu Hao, an industry expert by background, was appointed CEO of LEGEND HOLDING. This appointment signaled a commitment to delving deeper into the frontiers of technology. Yu Hao previously engaged in research and teaching in the Computer Science and Technology Department at Harbin Institute of Technology. He later headed R&D at several multinational corporations and held positions such as Vice Chair of the Natural Language Understanding Committee of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence. This technically expert CEO possesses deeper technological insights than the average investor. Long before the large language model boom, Yu Hao proposed that "human-machine intelligence agents" would deeply integrate the physical "origin-verse" and digital "source-verse," evolving into a "metaverse" of human-machine symbiosis, pioneering the conceptual framework of a digital-intelligent "tri-verse." "Large models solve the generation problem, making interaction between the physical and virtual worlds possible; intelligent agents complete the connection between these two worlds," Yu Hao explained. He describes the current public attitude towards AI as a "transitional phase of conflict." He is optimistic about directions like AI programming and AI+robotics. When evaluating AI projects, he adheres to three principles: what pain point does it solve; can its application value and effectiveness be verified; and does it possess solid data resources. The board's expectation for Yu Hao is to systematically screen global early-stage technologies and select promising ones for commercialization attempts. The goal is to "establish a replicable business model with LEGEND HOLDING's characteristics in the field of global frontier technology commercialization," Ning Min wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Taking an Extra Step "The underlying logic of technology investment has undergone a fundamental transformation," Ning Min stated. LEGEND HOLDING consistently ranks among the top three in direct investment within the venture capital industry in terms of portfolio company IPOs annually. In 2025 alone, it facilitated 15 portfolio companies going public. This seasoned investor, however, is not content. It aims to gain foresight by engaging directly with scientists and laboratories. Yu Hao's primary task upon joining LEGEND HOLDING in 2021 was to pioneer a new path for the company's布局 in frontier technologies. The following year, the LEGEND HOLDING Forward-looking Technology Research Institute was established, with Yu Hao as its Dean. The new institute's mission is to take a step even earlier than "angel investing." When potential seed projects are still in the laboratory, the institute screens and engages, working with researchers around their fundamental innovations to jointly identify points where technology can meet new industries, engaging in "co-creative incubation and entrepreneurship." Having experienced research and teaching firsthand at Harbin Institute of Technology, Yu Hao understands the challenges researchers face in project development. "Writing proposals, applying for grants, securing funding for development – taking that first step is often very difficult for researchers," he said. He clarified that the institute's role is not to "invest in chicks," but rather to "directly invest in the hen and work together to hatch the eggs." LEGEND HOLDING imbues the institute's "forward-looking" aspect with a dual meaning: Technological foresight: engaging deeply in technology incubation when researchers have a preliminary idea, investing human, financial, and material resources to concretize and ground the research concept. Model foresight: forming tailored technology partnerships with high-potential innovation teams, establishing mechanisms for joint IP research and co-designing industrialization roadmaps to mitigate future concerns. Professor Peng Chao recalled his impression of the institute's staff visiting his office – it was the first time investors had seriously listened to him explain topological photonics and photonic integration for over an hour. Reportedly, the "Advanced Photonic Integration Technology Joint Laboratory" leverages Peking University's research strength and talent, combined with LEGEND HOLDING's funding, strategic guidance, and industrial resources. It aims at next-generation communication and intelligent computing systems, focusing on solving core challenges like the "power wall" and "computing power crisis," to push technology towards industrial application. Under this arrangement, scientists can focus on research without funding worries while receiving reasonable intellectual property benefits, and the investment institution can participate in the distribution of gains from frontier technology transfer. Currently, the Forward-looking Technology Research Institute has established connections with over 60 enterprises and research institutions, initiated deep collaboration with two universities and seven companies, and screened 39 seed technologies. "The lifeline of future technology must be firmly held in our own hands," Ning Min mentioned in the shareholder letter. In the angel investment sphere, Legend Star is also striving to "take an extra step." Wang Mingyao noted that "investing early, investing small, investing in tech" has become consensus. In early 2022, they went a step further by proposing to "invest in newer, invest in more refined" areas. "Newer" refers to identifying new driving forces within niche sectors, entering faster than others to gain greater returns. For example, in areas like commercial spaceflight and controlled nuclear fusion, Legend Star was among the earliest investors. "More refined" means that in hot sectors like AI and robotics, they aim to be the first to grasp the movements of top-tier teams and select the most promising early-stage targets. In 2025 alone, Legend Star invested in nearly 30 new projects, covering frontier sub-sectors like embodied intelligence, aerospace, chips/semiconductors, and quantum computing.
Providing Comprehensive Services In interviews, Yu Hao repeatedly emphasized the phrase "begin with the end in mind." "You need to see where the finish line is and keep your eyes on it as you chart your own path," he said, applying this principle both to promoting "Chinese-style technological innovation" and to LEGEND HOLDING's own innovation. This approach relies on a commitment to long-termism, which is also reflected in its technology investment strategy through a distinct focus on making services "comprehensive." Since its inception, LEGEND HOLDING has emphasized providing "value-added services" to startups, offering support like entrepreneurial guidance, industry chain linkage, and assistance with industrial implementation, forming a support system tailored to portfolio companies' needs. For instance, during its early development, iFlytek faced a "darkest hour" with a cold market and significant losses. Investor Legend Capital provided substantial support, helping the founders and the company regain viability and overcome difficulties through assistance with business models, strategy, and resource connections. This service-oriented mindset permeates all parts of LEGEND HOLDING. The LEGEND HOLDING Southern Smart Manufacturing Base in Shenzhen dedicates part of its capacity to create a "LEGEND HOLDING Pilot Production Base," addressing manufacturing challenges for startups during their launch phase, capable of rapidly delivering orders as small as a few units. Taking Diamond Robots as an example, a company with extremely high production process requirements, the base not only undertook production tasks but also assisted in establishing a complete standard quality and process system, enabling rapid mass production conversion of Diamond's visual-tactile sensor products. "LEGEND HOLDING has its own choices and persistence, is willing to be patient capital, invests early and small, and always maintains sensitivity to cutting-edge technologies," Ning Min stated. He added that LEGEND HOLDING cooperates with almost all top universities in China, particularly maintaining a decades-long partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences system, which has yielded a series of scientific and technological achievements. The incubation of Lianhe Chemical Technology serves as a typical case study. Lianhe Chemical's technology is rooted in academic achievements from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. LEGEND HOLDING supported it from a greenfield investment stage, providing capital, resource access, management, and cultural empowerment, helping it grow rapidly into a successful listed new materials enterprise with annual sales exceeding 6 billion yuan. Its joint venture, Lianhe Chemical-Huisun POE project, with a first-phase capacity of 100,000 tons per year, is expected to commence operations in the second quarter of 2026. Following its EVA photovoltaic film material, this project is set to break foreign monopolies in polyolefin elastomer production technology once again. From LEGEND HOLDING's perspective, the major trend in industry has shifted towards fundamental breakthroughs in hard technology, moving into the deep waters of innovation. Consequently, the underlying logic of investment is also undergoing a fundamental transformation. Ning Min believes that contemporary technology investment requires not only a profound understanding of industry and the ability to accurately capture disruptive technologies, but also the capacity for industrial empowerment that deeply integrates technology with the real economy. "These two aspects are precisely our strengths," he stated.
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