Wang Xin, the founder and chairwoman of Guangdong Dtech Technology Co., Ltd., works at the company's lab in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, on March 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
GUANGZHOU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Thirty seven years ago, when Wang Xin was working on a toy assembly line in southern China, it would have been hard to imagine that she would one day build a global empire of precision tools used in manufacturing the circuit boards for chips, servers and smartphones.
The former "factory girl," however, made this a reality, with her company recently completing the acquisition of MPK Kemmer, a German pioneer of this industry.
Wang, 53, is the founder and chairwoman of Guangdong Dtech Technology Co., Ltd., which holds the world's largest market share of printed circuit board (PCB) drill bits, accounting for nearly three out of every 10 sold globally.
Her ascent mirrors the broader trajectory of China's tech boom, driven by grit and economic imperatives.
Born into a rural family in central China's Henan Province, Wang joined a generation of young migrants who headed south for factory work, driven by a simple desire: to pursue a better life.
In 1989, with money her mother had earned selling soybeans, she took a train to Dongguan. The city in south China's Guangdong Province would soon earn its reputation as a powerhouse that underpinned the country's transformation into the "world's factory."
Wang's first job was at a toy factory. While her peers spent their evenings at karaoke bars, she spent hers learning accounting.
She later joined a small electronics trading firm as a saleswoman. She worked hard, but her boss refused to pay her the promised commission after she landed big orders. In 1997, Wang started a modest trading shop with her mother, her brother and sister-in-law. They worked in a cramped flat with just one telephone, one fax machine and a second-hand grinding machine.
As Hong Kong returned to the motherland that same year, countless workshops like Wang's were springing up across Guangdong, running day and night.
The family collected used drill bits from larger factories, resharpened them and sold them to smaller manufacturers. They soon made a profit as middlemen.
But Wang recognized that this success was merely built on information or resource gaps, and the business model was unsustainable.
Refusing to be left behind, she began developing her own products in 2004. Her initial R&D team consisted of just three people. With no prototype, they had to study technical materials and reverse-engineer products. Wang recalled that during the toughest times, she and other shareholders took no salaries, prioritizing worker pay and pouring profits back into research.
When the 2008 global financial crisis hit, squeezed manufacturers saw their profits decline and began seeking cheaper alternatives.
Wang seized the moment. Riding the wave of global manufacturing shifting toward China, her company leveraged its self-developed equipment to rapidly increase production, capture market share and boost sales by 50 percent.
Since then, the company's growth has been steady. In November 2022, Dtech went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext, China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises.
On the day of the bell-ringing ceremony, Wang stood in the crowd as camera flashes lit up her face. Few in the audience realized she was the shy factory girl who once dared not raise her head.
Entering 2026, the explosive growth in global AI computing infrastructure has triggered a wave of expansion in the PCB industry. PCB drill bits developed by Wang's company can be as thin as 0.01 millimeters, which is about one-fifth the width of a human hair. Their precision directly determines signal transmission quality and chip performance.
"Pursuing the ultimate product and reaching the world's top level is a goal deeply shared by Dongguan's manufacturers," Wang said.
Her journey underscores a larger transformation in China. Gone are the days when Chinese companies competed solely on low cost. Currently, many are winning over global customers via advanced technology and precision engineering.
Despite her company's success, Wang continues to push for technological upgrades. The company's German acquisition is expected to help it open up European and American markets.
If her past is considered an accurate guide, that relentless persistence seems very likely to determine the next chapter of her inspiring story. ■
This photo taken on March 19, 2026 shows Wang Xin, the founder and chairwoman of Guangdong Dtech Technology Co., Ltd., checking a set of printed circuit board (PCB) drill bits at the company's lab, in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
