Zhang Yaqin was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi in 1966. He was admitted to the Junior Class of the University of Science and Technology of China at the age of 12. He received a PhD in electrical engineering from George Washington University in the United States at the age of 23. He once studied senior executive business at Harvard University.
He is a world-class expert in digital imaging and video technology, multimedia communications and the Internet.
In 1997, Zhang Yaqin, who was only 31 years old, was awarded the title of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Fellow of IEEE), becoming the youngest scientist to receive this honor in the 100-year history of the association. He holds 60 U.S. patents, many of which have become international standards for ISO and ITU.
In 1999, Zhang Yaqin returned to China and joined the then Microsoft China Research Institute as vice president and chief scientist, dedicated to research in data compression, video, multimedia and Internet. Currently, he is a visiting or honorary professor at 20 universities around the world.
After Zhang Yaqin joined Microsoft Research Asia (formerly Microsoft Research China) in January 1999, he served as vice president and chief scientist. In August 2000, he took over the baton from Kai-fu Lee and became the director of the institute. Under his leadership, Microsoft Research China was upgraded to Microsoft Research Asia in November 2001 and gradually developed into a world-class basic scientific research institution. The institution currently brings together 170 outstanding scientific researchers at home and abroad, and has published more than 700 papers at authoritative academic conferences and journals around the world. More than 70 technologies have been transferred to Microsoft's core products, including Microsoft's next-generation operating system Longhorn.
On January 7, 2004, he was promoted to global vice president of Microsoft Corporation. At this point, 38-year-old Zhang Yaqin has become another Chinese who has entered the core layer of Microsoft after Kai-fu Lee.
On September 22, 2005, Microsoft officially announced that Global Vice President Zhang Yaqin would serve as Vice Chairman of Microsoft China, responsible for the overall layout of Microsoft's scientific research and product development in China, and guiding and promoting Microsoft's R&D strategy in China. , and together with Chen Yongzheng, chairman of Microsoft China Co., Ltd., jointly lead the Microsoft China leadership group.