Shan Xiangshuang said five years ago that his $10bn private equity firm CSC Group was building a “direct train” to Silicon Valley to “accelerate the introduction of foreign high-tech technologies” into China.
The billionaire investor, Chinese Communist party member and former civil servant went on to develop US business interests through Hone Capital, CSC’s California-based investment vehicle. Hone built stakes in almost 400 US tech start-ups developing critical technologies from artificial intelligence to cyber security and supersonic jets.
That splurge has caught the attention of US authorities. The Financial Times on Wednesday revealed the FBI is investigating Hone over whether intellectual property may have been transferred back to Chinese companies or authorities raising potential national security concerns.