Inovance () is a

publicly listed A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (li ...

Chinese company that engages in the manufacture and sale of

electrical equipment Electrical devices or electric devices are devices that functionally rely on electric energy ( AC or DC) to operate their core parts (electric motors, transformers, lighting, rechargeable batteries, control electronics). They can be contraste ...

that includes industrial

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

control products,

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

as well as electrical systems for the automotive industry. It is currently the largest industrial automation company in China as well as its second largest domestic producer of

industrial robot An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes. Typical applications of robots include robot welding, welding, painting, assembly, Circu ...

s. Founded by a group of former

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...

engineers, the company has been dubbed "Little Huawei" in the industry.

Background

Inovance was founded in April 2003 by Zhu Xingming and several other engineers from

. When the company was founded, it aimed to compete in the high-end market with foreign companies and never to fall into a

price war A price war is a form of market competition in which companies within an industry engage in aggressive pricing activity "characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors". This leads to a cycle, where each competitor att ...

with domestic companies. On 28 September 2010, Inovance held its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

and became a listed company on the

Shenzhen Stock Exchange The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Excha ...

. Afterwards it expanded its product range from single

frequency changer A frequency changer or frequency converter is Electronics, electronic or electromechanical equipment that converts alternating current (Alternating current, AC) of one frequency to alternating current of another frequency. The equipment may also ...

s to other industrial control products such as

programmable logic controller A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that ...

s and

servomechanism In mechanical and control engineering, a servomechanism (also called servo system, or simply servo) is a control system for the position and its time derivatives, such as velocity, of a mechanical system. It often includes a servomotor, and ...

s. Originally servicing the lower end market, the company gradually moved to take market share in the higher end market from European and Japanese incumbents. According to a report by

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

in 2017, Inovance stood to benefit heavily from the

Made in China 2025 Made in China 2025 (MIC25, MIC 2025, or MIC2025; )Made in China 2025
. CSIS, June 1, 20 ...

policy that would increased domestic industrial automation demand. At the time foreign companies still controlled 65% of China's industrial automation market. In June 2021, Inovance announced it had secured a CNY2.1 billion

private placement Private placement (or non-public offering) is a funding round of securities which are sold not through a public offering, but rather through a private offering, mostly to a small number of chosen investors. Generally, these investors include frien ...

from twelve investors that included

Hillhouse Investment Hillhouse Investment Management Ltd. is a global private equity firm with an East Asian heritage. Hillhouse was founded by Lei Zhang in 2005 with initial seed capital from the Yale University endowment and invests across East Asia, Southeast A ...

CITIC Securities CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. is a Chinese full-service investment bank. It offers services in underwriting, research, brokerage, asset management, wealth management, and investment advisory. CITIC Securities was established in 1995 and it is head ...

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

and

AIA Group AIA Group Limited, often known as AIA (), is a Hong Kong–based multinational insurance and finance corporation. It is the largest publicly traded life insurance group in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers insurance and financial services, ...

. The company planned to use the proceeds from it to acquire the remaining 49 percent stake in subsidiary Inovance Control Technology as well as expanding its output of automation control equipment, and developing smart software. Its stock price rose 7.9% after the announcement. In January 2024,

Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology (SZIIT; ) is a public college in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The institution is sponsored by the Shenzhen People's Government. Overview SZIIT is the National Demonstration Software Vocational Institu ...

announced it teamed up with Inovance to launch a program to train senior engineers and a technology research institute for robotics. In April 2024, Zhu stated the company hopes it would be able to challenge larger incumbents such as

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

for a place in the top three largest companies in the sector globally within five years. He also stated he believe Chinese automation companies will keep global supply chains running and insulate them from

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...

as they try to expand overseas.

References

External links

* {{SZSE 100 Index 2003 establishments in China 2010 initial public offerings Chinese brands Companies based in Shenzhen Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Electronics companies established in 2003 Companies in the CSI 100 Index 2003 in Shenzhen