G ao Yi is a Chinese self-made billionaire and the chairman of Wuxi Shangji Automation, a company that has become a leading manufacturer of equipment for the solar power industry. He has built his fortune by supplying the critical machinery needed to produce the core components of solar panels. His company is a key player in the vast solar manufacturing supply chain.

Shangji Automation specializes in producing high-precision equipment used to slice silicon ingots into the ultra-thin wafers that form the basis of solar cells. As the global demand for solar energy has exploded, so has the demand for the specialized machinery that his company produces. The company is a major supplier to the world's largest solar wafer manufacturers. The company's soaring valuation on the Shanghai Stock Exchange is the source of his family's immense wealth.