(Yicai Global) Nov. 20 -- China's state-owned Tsinghua Unigroup Co. [SHE:000938] has appointed Li Liyou as co-president to assist chair Zhao Weiguo in the planning and implementation of business development and major investment projects related to chip design.

Li Liyou will continue to serve as chair at Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. [NASDAQ:SPRD], with Zeng Xuezhong succeed him as chief executive of Spreadtrum Communications.

Li, who has over 30 years of experience in wireless communications, will help integrate resources and promote the implementation of TsingHua Unigroup's chip-to-cloud strategy.

Zeng will be fully responsible for business operations at Spreadtrum Communications. Under the core business strategy of TsingHua Unigroup, he will focus on improving Spreadtrum Communications' performance and helping the firm to become a global chip leader in the imminent 5G era, which in turn will accelerate the development of China's IC industry. Zeng Xuezhong, previously worked for Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. [SHE:000063] before joining TsingHua Unigroup in May 2017 and serves as global executive vice-president of TsingHua Unigroup and president at Unisplendour Corporation.

TsingHua Unigroup is a state-owned enterprise controlled by Tsinghua Holdings Co., the asset management unit of world-renowned Tsinghua University, which focuses on the integrated circuit industry and develops memory chips, mobile Internet, cloud computing, cloud services and other core areas of the information technology industry.