I Started a Business in Shenzhen

In the 2008 financial crisis, Lin Qihang started out at a four-square-meter stall in Huaqiangbei. From reselling used chips to being sued by international giants, from a fractured team to a cash-flow crisis, he drew up a technology roadmap in the depths of despair. In 2018, when his company was placed on the US Entity List, he turned the crisis into an opportunity. Seventeen years of hard-won experience took him from Shenzhen to the world, and from imitation to open source. This is the dawn of China’s journey in hard tech.