Zhao Weiguo, the former chairman of semiconductor titan Tsinghua Unigroup, came under official investigation in 2022 and was formally accused of graft the following year.

China has sought to increase its self-reliance in the field of semiconductors, which are used in everything from televisions to weapons and supercomputers, particularly as they have become a focus of trade tensions between Beijing and countries like the United States.

Tsinghua Unigroup rose to become one of the country's leading chipmakers after a string of acquisitions, but accumulated huge debts under Zhao's chairmanship.

It defaulted on several bond payments in 2020, sparking a painful restructuring and a change in ownership.

On Wednesday, a court in northeastern China found Zhao guilty of massive embezzlement, illegal profiteering and intentionally harming the interests of a listed company, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

He was given a death sentence with a two-year suspension, deprived of political rights for life and ordered to forfeit his personal assets.

In China, death sentences for corruption-related crimes are often reduced to life imprisonment on appeal.

He was also fined 12 million yuan ($1.65 million).

Zhao, who is in his late 50s, graduated from Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University and started working in 1993 at Tsinghua Unigroup, which has historic ties to the school, according to an official Chinese biography.

He rose through the ranks and served as the company's chairman from 2009 until the time of his investigation.

The court found that Zhao and an accomplice had used his position to buy property that should have been owned by the company at cut-rate prices, illegally occupying state-owned assets worth 470 million yuan, CCTV reported.

He also cost the state over 890 million yuan when he bought services from his accomplice's company at a rate much higher than the market value, it said.

"(Zhao) embezzled a particularly huge sum of money and caused particularly serious losses to national interests, and should be sentenced to death," the court concluded.

But "the execution will not be immediately carried out" because he cooperated with prosecutors and returned his ill-gotten gains, it said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged an unrelenting crackdown on official corruption since coming to power over a decade ago.

Proponents say the policy promotes clean governance, but others say it also serves as a means for Xi to purge political rivals.