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Xiaomi founder Lei Jun donates US$183 million to alma mater Wuhan University in tech innovation push

  • The billionaire donated 1.3 billion yuan to one of China’s leading research universities on its 130th anniversary on Wednesday
  • Lei credits the university and a book he stumbled upon in the library in 1987 with igniting his entrepreneurial passion

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Xiaomi co-founder and chief executive Lei Jun, middle, has donated a record 1.3 billion yuan (US$183 million) to his alma mater Wuhan University. A signing ceremony was held at the university on its 130th anniversary on November 29, 2023. Photo: Wuhan University
Ann Caoin Shanghai
Lei Jun, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of smartphone giant Xiaomi, has donated a record 1.3 billion yuan (US$183 million) to his alma mater Wuhan University to support one of China’s leading research universities in tech innovation and talent cultivation.
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The school announced the fund, the largest individual donation ever given to a Chinese university, on its 130th anniversary on Wednesday.

At a signing ceremony for the donation attended by Xiaomi executives and university managers, Lei – who graduated in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science – said it is a “birthday gift to the alma mater”, through which he hopes to see the appearance of “more outstanding engineers, scientists and technology entrepreneurs” in China, according to a post on the university’s official WeChat account on Wednesday.

Lei said the fund will support the university in three major areas: basic research in the six major disciplines of mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history and philosophy; scientific and technological innovation in the computer field; and the cultivation of students.

The 53-year-old entrepreneur said his desire to make the donation dates back to his school days.

“More than 30 years ago, as a representative of outstanding students, I was awarded the highest scholarship at Wuhan University at that time, which was 2,000 yuan, sponsored by a company,” he said. “For a student from an ordinary county family, this was really a huge sum of money.”

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“I swore in my heart then: no matter how much I receive today, I will pay it back 10 times, 100 times, or 10,000 times in the future,” he added.

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