# Joseph Chen

> Joseph "Joe" Chen is a Chinese-born, US-based technology founder, investor and executive. He co-founded ChinaRen in 1999, built Renren into a major Chinese social network and took it public in New York in 2011. After turning toward startup investing, he moved deeper into computing infrastructure. He is now non-executive chairman and president of TetraMem, an AI-chip company developing analog in-memory computing.

- **Role:** Non-Executive Chairman and President at TetraMem
- **Organizations:** TetraMem, Oak Pacific Investment, Renren, ChinaRen, Sohu
- **From:** China
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Delaware, Master of Science in Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded ChinaRen, described in Renren filings as a first-generation Chinese social networking service and one of China’s most visited websites in 1999., Built Renren into a major real-name social network with more than 100 million users by its 2011 public listing., Led Renren through a New York Stock Exchange IPO that raised approximately $740 million in 2011.

## Career timeline

- **1990** — Arrived in Delaware from China at age 20 to study physics, speaking no English.
- **1999** — Co-founded ChinaRen.com in Beijing with Yang Ning and Zhou Yunfan.
- **2000** — ChinaRen was acquired by Sohu for a reported $33 million; Chen then served briefly as a Sohu senior vice president.
- **2002** — Returned to Beijing to focus full-time on internet ventures in China.
- **2006** — Oak Pacific acquired the campus social network Xiaonei, which later became Renren.
- **2009** — Xiaonei was renamed Renren and expanded beyond university campuses.
- **2011** — Renren listed on the New York Stock Exchange, raising approximately $740 million.
- **2018** — Renren separated a portfolio of startup investments into Oak Pacific Investment.
- **2025** — Appeared with James Liu as an Oak Pacific Investment co-founder to discuss early-stage AI investing.
- **2026** — Serving as non-executive chairman and president of TetraMem, focused on analog in-memory computing for AI.

## Achievements

- Co-founded ChinaRen, described in Renren filings as a first-generation Chinese social networking service and one of China’s most visited websites in 1999.
- Built Renren into a major real-name social network with more than 100 million users by its 2011 public listing.
- Led Renren through a New York Stock Exchange IPO that raised approximately $740 million in 2011.
- Became a member of the inaugural China Fellowship Program and the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
- Helped form Oak Pacific Investment around a portfolio of early- and late-stage technology companies.
- Now serves as non-executive chairman and president of TetraMem, which is developing resistive-memory-based analog in-memory computing systems.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published LinkedIn essays on AI memory bandwidth, resistive RAM and the future of computing, including ‘The Melting Memory Wall.’
- **2026-05** — Listed as non-executive chairman and president on TetraMem’s leadership page as the company prepared MLX200 production shipments.
- **2025-04** — Discussed early-stage AI investing and US-China technology separation with Oak Pacific Investment co-founder James Liu in a BCC Global Media interview.

## Links

- Website: https://tetramem.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-chen-bbaa6253

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/joseph-chen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-26