Weili Dai
Weili Dai is a prominent figure in the technology industry, cofounding Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a major semiconductor manufacturer based in the United States. Born in Shanghai, China, and later moving to the U.S. at the age of 17, Dai faced language barriers but successfully earned a degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. Together with her husband and brother-in-law, she established Marvell in 1995, which initially focused on data storage solutions and quickly grew to become a key player in the silicon chip market, serving clients like Seagate and Samsung.
Throughout her career, Dai has been recognized not only for her entrepreneurial success but also for her advocacy for women in leadership and technical fields. Despite facing challenges, including a significant SEC investigation in the mid-2000s, she remained influential in the tech space, later serving on the board of the Global Semiconductor Alliance and founding a new semiconductor company, Silicon Box, in Singapore. Dai’s work has earned her accolades, including recognition as one of Forbes' most powerful women and among the richest self-made women. Beyond her professional endeavors, she actively contributes to various philanthropic efforts and serves as a mentor to women globally.
Subject Terms
Weili Dai
Cofounder of Marvell Technology Group
- Born: 1961
- Place of Birth: Shanghai, China
Primary Company/Organization: Marvell Technology Group
Introduction
Weili Dai, born in China and educated in the United States, cofounded Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a leading semiconductor manufacturer. One of the most successful female technology entrepreneurs in the world, Dai is also noted for her philanthropy and her championing of women's greater participation in leadership and in business and technical fields.
Early Life
Weili Dai was born in Shanghai, China; her father was an engineer and her mother a nurse. She played badminton and junior semiprofessional basketball in China, and she credited the experience with giving her self-confidence and a passion for winning. The family moved to the United States in 1979, when Dai was seventeen; although she knew little English, she attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco for one year before enrolling at the University of California at Berkeley. She received her bachelor's degree in computer science from that institution, where she also met her husband. After graduation, she worked as a software engineer.
Life's Work
Dai cofounded Marvell Technology Group in 1995 with her husband, Sehat Sutardja, and his brother, Pantas Sutardja. According to Dai, the company was planned around her kitchen table. Marvell Technology Group began with investments from friends and family plus $200,000 they had earned from licensing a chip design. After two years, Diosdado Banatao, an electrical engineer just starting on a new career as a venture capitalist, invested $1 million in the company. Marvell first worked in the field of data storage, with its first large customer being the Yellow Pages. Its first major project was designing an analog chip for disk drives; the resulting chip operated 20 percent less expensively than a rival chip manufactured by Texas Instruments. By 2000, the company had landed such customers as Seagate Technology and Samsung Electronics. That year, the company boasted revenues of $88 billion.
On June 26, 2000, Marvell Technology Group held an initial public offering (IPO); the initial stock price of $15 per share rose to $21.93 by the end of 2000. From 2001 to 2005, the company's shares returned 38 percent annually. As of 2006, the three cofounders owned 22 percent of the company, and all three had become billionaires. That year, Marvell bought Intel's mobile phone chip business, bringing the company publicity at a time when it was not well known. By 2011, according to Dai, Marvell had a 70 percent share of the silicon chip market and supplied chips for some of the best-known technology companies in the world, including Microsoft, Cisco, and Sony. The company had grown to approximately six thousand employees, half in the United States and half overseas, and thirteen research and design centers—the most in the United States—with six in Asia and six in Europe as well. Each of these centers focused on a particular facet of the company, an example of Dai's philosophy that different people have different talents and should focus on what they do well in order to contribute to the company.
In 2006, Marvell was investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for backdating stock options, a practice whereby the option's purchase date is changed to an earlier date when the price was lower. In May 2007, a panel concluded that Marvell had in fact backdated stock options and lacked a system of internal controls, noting that it was unusual for a married couple to be the only members of the committee that awards stock options, as was the case with Marvell. As part of the settlement, Sutardja relinquished his post as chair of Marvell, chief financial officer George Hervey resigned, and Dai relinquished her position as chief operating officer. In addition, Dai was stripped of financial responsibility and barred from serving as a director or officer of the company for five years, and the company paid a $10 million fine. Dai was ousted from the company in 2016.
Dai was appointed to the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) in 2015. The organization advocates for the silicon industry around the world. That same year she was named on Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful women for the fourth year in a row. In 2021, she and her husband founded Silicon Box, a semiconductor company in Tampines, Singapore. In 2023, the company opened a new facility there to produce chiplets for customers working with AI. In 2022, Forbes named her one of the 25 richest self-made women.
Personal Life
Dai married her husband, Sehat Sutardja, an immigrant from Indonesia, shortly after her graduation from college. She worked as a software engineer while he pursued his master's degree and PhD in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. They had two sons, Christopher and Nicholas; both also became electrical engineers. Dai and Sutardja earned a reputation for being devoted to work, not taking vacations, and demanding the same kind of dedication from their employees.
Dai has argued that the varied demands placed on women make them experts at time management and multitasking (citing her own experiences working full time while raising her family) and also force them to develop both leadership and caretaking skills. Dai became involved in several philanthropic ventures and has served as a mentor to women from other countries.
Bibliography
Balconi, Margherita, and Roberto Fontana. “Entry and Innovation: An Analysis of the Fabless Semiconductor Business.” Small Business Economics 37.1 (2011): 87–106. Print.
Herel, Suzanne. “An Ex-Nerd, Chipmaker Is First of All a Team Player.” San Francisco Chronicle 6 June 2011: D1. Print.
Hurtate, Jeorge S., Evert A. Wolsheimer, and Lisa M. Tafoya. Understanding Fabless IC Technology. Burlington: Elsevier, 2007. Print.
Le, Diem Nguyen. "Meet Chinese Billionaire Weili Dei, One of the US's Richest Self-Made Women. The Shanghai-Born 'Technology Geek' Made Her Money Through Semiconductors, Joining Kim K and Rihanna on Forbes' 2022 List." Style, 28 June 2022, www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3183324/meet-chinese-billionaire-weili-dai-one-uss-richest-self. Accessed 8 Mar. 2024.
Whelan, David. “Meet Marvell.” Forbes 178.3 (2006): 58–62. Print.