Founder & China Operator
Steven Ducat
Opened his first factory in Hangzhou in 2000 — a garment line shipping to Europe. Twenty-six years, three industries, and a clean-energy campus later, he is still on Chinese factory floors. Still in the WeChat groups. Still building.
26years. Still on the floor.
"Boss Du" — Chinese factory owners address him as a peer operator, not a visitor.
"It's time for countries, instead of looking at China as competition, to actually look at China as a partner."
26years
On Chinese floors
3industries
Garments · jewelry · energy
70km²
GBA manufacturing
杜总
“Boss Du” · peer
Career arc
Three industries. One constant: the floor.
Garments → jewelry → energy systems. Twenty-six years, not a tour itinerary.
2000·Hangzhou
Garments
2007·Guangzhou
Jewelry casting
2014·GBA · Foshan
Solar & clean energy
Now·SPD Energy
Distribution & transfer
The arc
From outsider on a garment floor to national energy rooms
Still shipping product. Still on the floor.
2000
Hangzhou · eastern China
Own the floor
First factory in the Hangzhou manufacturing belt (Xiaoshan district) — ladies’ garments, wholly foreign-owned, shipping to the UK and Europe. Language barrier. Real mistakes. He stayed.
2007
Guangzhou · Greater Bay Area
Metallurgy
Jewelry manufacturing in Panyu (Guangzhou) for US and European markets — rolling, casting, drawing. Team members from the Hangzhou years still with him.
2012
Singapore
SPD Asia
Founded SPD Asia in Singapore — parent company of SPD Energy, SPD Agritrade, SPD Health. ~1,100 people globally across the group.
2014
Foshan · Greater Bay Area
Clean energy
Founded SPD Energy next to Guangzhou: 70,000 m² campus, ~600 people. Solar, storage, inverters, distribution, EV charging.
2026
Beijing · national stage
Policy rooms
Chief Global Advisor, CERS — CNEST dual-carbon forum. Still building. Still on Chinese factory floors.
“Product modeling can take as little as a week in China, while it can take almost a year elsewhere.”— to CCTV at CISCE 2026
Still building
From floor owner to national advisory
SPD Asia Group: ~1,100 people globally across energy (SPD Energy, Foshan), agritrade, and health manufacturing (SPD Health, led by his daughter Jemma Ducat). SPD Energy alone: solar and wind equipment, battery storage, inverters, power distribution, EV charging — still a WOFE, still shipping while he advises at national level. Over 80% of SPD business has flowed from Belt and Road energy markets. Patents in power conditioning and predictive maintenance.
Roles
- Founder & CEO, SPD Energy (Foshan, Greater Bay Area)
- CEO & Founder, SPD Asia (Singapore) — parent of SPD Energy, SPD Agritrade, SPD Health
- Co-founder, Latest Byte — alongside Jeff Xie, Sarah Deng, Brian Gu, Jemma Ducat
- Chief Global Advisor, China Energy Research Society (CERS)
- Chief Global Advisor, China New Energy Chamber of Commerce (CNECC)
Founding
Why Latest Byte exists
Not a tourism company that discovered China. Five operators from the SPD ecosystem built it because the world kept asking for the China SPD already lives inside — and brochure tours were never going to be the answer.
Every day, clients ask Steven and the SPD team for factory access in China. SPD Asia Group employs ~1,100 people across energy, agritrade, and health — not tours — and factories cannot host endless visitors without becoming showrooms. Brochure tours never felt real enough: “Not the way you can show us.” Five operators from the SPD ecosystem founded Latest Byte to offer real immersion: eight days of density in the Greater Bay Area for families, companies, and project owners. For principals who need the keyholder, China Unlocked is the exclusive full-duration week — so access stays real for the factories and people behind it.
The ask never stopped
Executives and partners kept asking Steven and the SPD team for factory access and introductions — the China operators live every day, not the brochure version.
SPD is not a tour company
SPD Asia Group: ~1,100 people across energy, agritrade, and health manufacturing. Factories cannot host endless visitors without becoming showrooms. Authenticity dies when access becomes tourism.
“Not the real China”
Conventional tours never felt enough. Clients wanted context and judgment — transferred by people who build inside the system, not travel designers.
What we built
Immersion, not tourism.Transfer, not a checklist.
Eight days on a Greater Bay Area circuit — access density, judgment, and transfer designed by operators. Specific venues flex with what opens that week. Premium is honesty about access classes, not a fixed brand itinerary. See terms.
Future — students and families who need experience before theory hardens. Strategic — companies who need better decisions. Access — principals who need the keyholder week.
People did not want to visit China. They wanted to understand it — the China of builders and operators.
Product
Steven intensity
- China Unlocked
Full duration — the product is the keyholder
- Scale · Frontier
Signature moments — dinner, briefing, synthesis
- Makers · Engineers
Appearances — lead guide runs the week
Unlocked is the rare full-duration week. Most programs run on the operator network so factory relationships stay real.
Request a conversation (VIP Access) →The operators
Five equity holders. One founding logic.
Not a committee. Operators from the SPD ecosystem who built Latest Byte because brochure tours were never going to transfer the China they already live inside.
Co-founder · Keyholder
Steven Ducat
Factory operator in China since 2000
The reason owners answer a WeChat — not PR. SPD Energy CEO · SPD Asia · CERS advisory.
Co-founder · Access architecture
Jeff Xie
Twenty years at Steven’s side
Which factory opens when, which owner takes the call. The access system Latest Byte runs on.
Co-founder · Markets bridge
Sarah Deng
Chinese floors ↔ Western buyers
Positioning and communication so the story clients hear is the story operators live.
Co-founder · Strategy & partnerships
Brian Gu
Need → eight days that transfer
Program architecture and commercial design. Closes the gap between desire and what the GBA can deliver.
Co-founder · Legal & compliance
Jemma Ducat
Head of Legal, SPD Asia · CEO, SPD Health
Bridge generation — raised in China, trained in law. The regulatory landscape foreign companies pay to navigate.
Find your pathway
Who needs China ground truth?
Pick the door that matches who pays and who travels. We map the week from there — not from a generic brochure.
Still unclear? Write us once — pick a door; we route you.