Li Xiting was born in 1951 in a village in Anhui, China.

At 18, he joined Chinese army before entering university in 1973. He studied cryogenic physics (study of low temperatures) at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Young researcher began at various university institutes, including Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics and Université Paris-Sud in the early 1980s. He joined Anke Technology Company, a partially state-owned enterprise, in 1987, where he worked for four years.

This experience was a turning point.

In 1991, he joined forces with seven of Anke’s colleagues (including Xu Hang, also a billionaire) and launched Mindray (a pun on the light of wisdom), a research and manufacturing company for medical devices. Mindray produces operating theatre monitors, respirators, defibrillators, anaesthesia machines and infusion systems. 
From the beginning, Mindray has been successful with the development of the first blood oxygen saturation monitor in 1993.  In 1995, only 4 years after launching, Mindray obtained ISO9001 certification rewarding the company’s ability to provide a quality management system for services and products. 
For Li Xiting, innovation must be at the core of medicine, which is why 9% of annual revenue is devoted to R&D. This investment is used to fund 9 research centres, 6800 patent applications and 3000 R&D experts.
In 2000, Mindray received a CE mark in accordance with international export standards, a real opportunity for development. In 2005, already recognized as the largest medical device manufacturer in China, Mindray began its internationalization by establishing a presence in the UK.  In 2008, Mindray buys the Patient Monitoring division of Datascope Corporation (USA) for $209M. Li didn’t stop there and continued company’s external growth with american Zonare acquisition in the United States to become the leading imaging brand in the world. To date, Mindray has acquired nearly 10 companies worldwide.

In 2006, Mindray was the first Chinese medical equipment company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The operation raised $270M. Mindray was delisted from the US stock exchange in 2016 after a privatisation agreement. It was finally listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2018. 
With 44 subsidiaries worldwide, Mindray is now present in more than 190 countries. Main strategy is to integrate world’s best hospitals. The mission is already being fulfilled in the US where Mindray is present in 9 of the top 10 cardiac hospitals. In addition, Mindray supplies more than 400 university hospitals across Europe and 99% of tier 1 hospitals in China.
Despite his company’s growth, Li Xiting believes that well-being and a sense of belonging go hand in hand with employees performance. In line with this, Mindray has introduced talent development programmes and a wide range of activities from basketball to beach trips. Today, Mindray has over 11,000 employees in 30 countries.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic had a huge impact on the company’s growth.  

Indeed, the company’s share price rose by about 50% due to the increased demand for ventilators it was producing (3,000 per month).In response, the company increased its production capacity, provided much-needed medical equipment to the hardest-hit regions in China and abroad, and worked with medical professionals to disseminate front-line experience and knowledge through live webinars.
The billionaire donated $16M to his alma mater, the USTC. Very involved since the pandemic, the leader has made numerous donations to hospitals in the most affected provinces in China. Li has also sent more than $4.6M worth of medical devices to the regions most affected by COVID19, such as northern Italy.
Li Xiting is the richest Singapore citizen but resides in Shenzhen. The executive is ranked 18th in the 2021 Forbes China Rich list.