Holosun - Chinese or American?
Holosun - Chinese or American?
Just the Facts
After releasing our article on Argus Night Vision, many individuals reached out to us saying that Argus is a small fry when compared to larger established players like Holosun and InfiRay/iRay. While we know that iRay Technology is 100% Chinese and produces equipment for the People’s Liberation Army (despite claiming they don’t), just how Chinese is Holosun? And if it is, is this a problem?
The short answer is yes, and yes. Holosun is almost certainly a subsidiary of a state-backed Chinese industrial optic and laser conglomerate that produces optics for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP). Support for Holosun is tantamount to support for the PLA.
What We Know
Holosun Technology Inc. (Holosun) is a private US optic and laser/IR technology company originally founded in Sunrise, Florida, in 2011, now headquartered at 821 Echelon Ct, City of Industry, CA 91744. While the Holosun website does not contain any corporate information, the CEO of Holosun is Sun Weike (aka Victor Sun) and the company has approximately 20 employees.
Google searches on Holosun reveal little else. Unlike other US optics firms like Vortex, Leupold, and EOTech, Holosun does not have a Wikipedia page or corporate portal. As a result, we dived into customs data, bills of lading, real estate records, public corporate records, and other such publicly available records.
We’ll start with the basics.
The Original Address: 10401 NW 53rd St, Sunrise, FL 33351
According to the Florida Department of State, Holosun was founded in 2011 by Sun Wenhui and Li Tian. A corporate record search on the address shows that Holosun was co-located with another company called Surpass Technologies Inc. (Surpass), an industrial optics manufacturer founded in 2011 by Sun Jianhua and Li Tian (almost certainly the same Li Tian who started Holosun). While skimming through the rest of Surpass’ corporate info filed with the Florida Department of State, we find three more interesting tidbits of information.
Sun Jianhua, the CEO of Surpass, is also the CEO of a company called Xian Huanic Corporation (Huanic).
Sun Weike was identified as the CFO of Surpass in 2017, indicating a relationship with Sun Jianhua.
In 2017 Sun Jianhua and Sun Weike were both registered to 661 Brea Canyon Rd Suite 7, Walnut, CA 91789: the same address as the first Holosun office in California.
In 2015, Holosun and Surpass both made the jump to California. Their corporate records show they once again had the same registered address, this time at 661 Brea Canyon Rd, Walnut, CA.
Given the above links, the Holosun/Surpass affiliation is a trend that cannot be ignored.
Holosun’s current address: 821 Echelon Ct, City of Industry, CA 91744
It seems that after 2017, both companies outgrew their humble beginnings and moved from 661 Brea Canyon Rd to their current location at 821 Echelon Ct, City of Industry, CA 91744. This is verified by the Surpass’ “about” page:
“Surpass Technology Inc. US was established in Florida on 2011 by Huanic Corporation, a private company in China. Huanic Corporation invested 3 million US dollar with the approval and record from Chinese Commercial Administration Department. Surpass Technology Inc. is committed to assembling and offering electronic & optical components such as LED Module, Laser Module, Lens to industrial market; and outdoor & professional products such as Flashlight, Collimator, Leveling Instruments for consumer market.
After 7 years’ development, Surpass has 12 US employees and 6 million sales. Also in 2018, Surpass moved to a 35,000 square feet warehouse at Echelon Business Park, City of Industry, CA that was bought for development in future.” [sic - original grammatical errors included in above quote].
Surpass generously confirms two points for us. First, Surpass is a subsidiary of Huanic, a Chinese company. Second, Surpass owns the facility that Holosun operates out of, drawing an ever growing connection between the two companies.
There is also the tricky statement “Huanic invested 3 million dollar[s] with the approval and record [of the] Chinese Commercial Administration Department.” Is this a standard procedure for Chinese companies operating abroad or is there some aspect of the business that requires specific Chinese government approval?
It’s also worth noting that the Surpass customer service number (also 909-594-2888) is the same as the Holosun customer service number (909-594-2888), which is the same the Huanic customer service number (also 909-594-2888).
Enter Huanic
At this moment there are few key points about Huanic.
Huanic is a Chinese industrial optics manufacturer.
Huanic operates in the US through Surpass.
Sun Jianhua is the CEO of Huanic.
Huanic’s listed US address is 821 Echelon Ct, City of Industry, CA 91744
Huanic, Surpass, and Holosun all have the same office locations and contact information, and are almost certainly run by the same group of people.
Let’s take a look at the website. Here we find a standard Chinese business site, lots of photos, seemingly made in the early 2000s, general product information, and very little corporate info. We do get a nice photo of the Huanic US office.
We also get the Huanic HQ address, No.67 Jinye Road, Hi-tech Zone, Xian, Shaanxi, PRC. As readers of our Argus Night Vision article know, in order to operate in a High Tech Zone, companies must qualify as a National High-tech Enterprise (高新技术企业).
To qualify for this status, a company must be “a knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive economic entity within the scope of "high-tech fields supported by the state," promulgated by the state. Once these qualifications are satisfied and a company receives this certification, it then enjoys preferential tax policies, special government financial incentives, staff settlement bonuses, and other policy benefits that may include things like rent holidays for office space, wage support, etc.
According to the US-China Business Council, the High and New Technology Enterprise (HNTE) program offers qualified companies a 15 percent corporate tax rate (versus the standard 25 percent tax rate) and employees also pay reduced income taxes.
In addition, HNTE’s employees are eligible to settle in the city of their workplace with just one year of work experience under the talent introduction and settlement policies. This is critical in attracting and retaining skilled professionals in a society where internal movement is controlled through the hukou system, much like the former Soviet Union’s internal passport system. All of these benefits constitute state subsidies and are inherently anti-competitive.
These qualifications mean that Huanic is a state-supported entity, indicating that investment approval from the Chinese Commercial Administration Department is likely a specific requirement for firms backed by the Chinese government.
Key Huanic Individuals
As established earlier, the CEO of Huanic is Sun Jianhua. What we did not know was that Sun Wenhui (almost certainly the same Sun Wenhui that founded Holosun in 2011) is a director at Huanic and actually owns 15% of the company.
Patent Information
Here is where things start to get interesting. Huanic has a lot of patents, which makes sense considering it is an industrial optics manufacturer. On the flip side of this, Holosun holds no patents, which is strange considering Holosun is widely known as one of the largest optics firms in the US. A Holosun patent search pulls up this result from Sheltered Wings aka Vortex Optics, showing patent citations from Huanic and Sun Jianhua, but only non-patent citations for Holosun.
In going through all of Huanic’s patents, we find another connection. One of the main inventors cited in Huanic patents, Song Yanpeng (宋雁鹏), also happens to be cited in a number of similar patents for a company called Hwoyoung (西安昊阳星环光电科技). It also just so happens that Hwoyoung has the same address (CN) as Huanic, located at No.67 Jinye Road, Hi-tech Zone, Xian, Shaanxi, PRC.
This would be a coincidence if Huanic simply had a small office located there, but instead Huanic states, “The corporate headquarters is located at No.67, Jinye Road Hi-Tech zone of Xian China. Huanic’s corporate headquarters covers an area of 5 acres. The main building has more than 20 thousand square meters of working space, and has more than 1500 employees including 150 engineers in R&D.” At this point, we can assume with near certainty that Hwoyoung is a domestic subsidiary of Huanic. Driving this home, Chinese commentators assert that Hwoyoung is just one of Huanic’s domestic brands.
Hwoyoung
What we know about Hwoyoung.
Hwoyoung and Huanic share the same address.
Hwoyoung, by nature of location in the High Tech Zone, is state-supported.
Inventors listed on Huanic patents are also listed on Hwoyoung patents.
Hwoyoung optics and multifunction lasers are the same as Holosun, to the point where they share branding.
Hwoyoung is almost certainly a subsidiary of Huanic.
Documents also prove that Hwoyoung sells directly to the Chinese government.
Why is this a problem? It appears that Hwoyoung’s largest clients are the organizations below.
In case you missed it, Hwoyoung, a subsidiary of Huanic, the likely owner of Holosun, sells to the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police. The Hwoyoung optics and lasers sold to the PLA and PAP are just rebranded Holosun products.
This means that all the reviews, product improvement suggestions, and money that Holosun receives from Americans goes directly towards modernizing the armed forces of China, the number one national security threat as identified by the White House in 2018 and 2022.
What to do about Holosun aka Huanic aka Hwoyoung?
At the government level, foreign owned companies with ties to Chinese Armed Services should be banned from operating in the United States. Congress must block the CCP from utilizing America’s free market, open society, and constitutional firearms rights to advance Beijing’s malign interests.
Additionally, US firms and non-US firms that hold DOD contracts should be restricted from engaging with such companies.
An example of such a company is Sig Sauer (Sig). Sig, a household name in the tactical community, collaborated with Huanic in order to manufacture their Romeo 5 red dot sight that debuted in 2016. Rumor has it that this partnership began in 2015 and is one of the major reasons why Holosun product quality dramatically improved. Huanic almost certainly used data provided by Sig Sauer to improve the quality of their other product lines.
Sig maintains multiple contracts with US Department of Defense entities. In 2022, the US Army awarded Sig with a $4.5 billion contract to provide the Next Generation Squad Weapon. This begs the question of why a company that states, “we [SIG] are essentially becoming the small arms company of the US military,” manufacturing optics in China?
Sig is not alone in this malfeasance. Primary Arms partnered with Holosun to produce the Holosun HE509, which according to Primary Arms, is one of the industry’s most popular enclosed mini reflex sights. Primary Arms has a significant track record of working with Chinese companies to produce optics.
Vortex Optics, another major US optics manufacturer, does not work with Huanic, but does work with other Chinese optics manufacturers. According to their customer service, all Vortex Diamondback scopes are manufactured in China “under the supervision of Japanese optics experts and engineers.”
Other US optics firms with manufacturing in China include US Optics, Bushnell, and TruGlo/ GSM Outdoors.
At the corporate level, US-connected firms should proactively divest from operations in mainland China and begin manufacturing in friendly countries (including Philippines, Japan, and Mexico). This transition could create a gap for Chinese firms to enter the US market which must be blocked by the US government. Firms will only be able to shift away from Chinese manufacturers with guarantees their efforts will not be supplanted by opportunistic groups.
The rubber hits the road at the individual level. Some individuals reached out in response to our Argus article, claiming minimal impact from purchasing optics produced by a company that supports US adversaries. PLA soldiers are training to employ these optics to get a clear sight picture to kill American infantrymen. Rights must come with responsibilities, and American citizens should never aid Beijing’s military buildup.
Thank you to Black Powder Red Earth and TASKER Network for providing information to assist with the article.
Additional Information
Surpass claims it is an industrial electric and optical component manufacturer, yet it imports “gun sights” from Huanic. This continues to today.
Holosun’s Huanic imports are steadily decreasing and are increasingly replaced by a company called Cophoton PTE LTD that operates out of Singapore. All of Cophoton’s products are exported from the same location as Huanic’s and Cophoton itself is registered to a coffee shop. It is likely Cophoton is a pass-through company to mask Holosun’s imports from Huanic.
The original Holosun logo was registered by Huanic in 2013.
