Jason Lee (Li Chi-Shen): Founder of Dragon Cloud Digital, Taiwan Smart Vending Pioneer
Jason Lee (Li Chi-Shen, 李奇申) is a Taiwanese tech entrepreneur and founder of Dragon Cloud Digital Integration (龍雲數位整合 / TransTEP). This is his professional profile in English.
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Jason Lee (Li Chi-Shen): Founder of Dragon Cloud Digital
Taiwan Smart Vending Pioneer and IoT Innovator
Who Is Jason Lee
Jason Lee (Chinese: 李奇申, Li Chi-Shen) is a Taiwanese technology entrepreneur with over 36 years of experience in the Taiwan tech industry.
He is the founder and chairman of Dragon Cloud Digital Integration Co., Ltd. (龍雲數位整合股份有限公司), known internationally as TransTEP, a smart vending machine company based in Taipei, Taiwan.
Summary Profile
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Li Chi-Shen (李奇申) |
| English Name | Jason Lee |
| Nationality | Taiwanese |
| Current Role | Founder & Chairman, Dragon Cloud Digital / TransTEP |
| Company Founded | 2013 |
| Technology Platform | XDNA (IoT middleware, developed 2001-present) |
| Current Scale | 1,000+ smart vending machines deployed in Taiwan |
| Key Partnership | Systex Corporation (TSE: 6214), strategic partnership since 2019 |
Career Timeline
1989-2001: ICL Taiwan
Jason Lee began his technology career at ICL Taiwan (the Taiwan branch of International Computers Limited, UK), where he worked on enterprise systems integration.
This experience gave him deep expertise in making different hardware systems communicate — a core problem he would later build XDNA to solve at scale.
2001: XDNA Development Begins
In 2001, Lee began developing XDNA, an IoT communication middleware platform designed to create a unified communication layer between disparate hardware devices and communication protocols.
Notably, he began this work before "IoT" (Internet of Things) became a recognized industry term.
2001-2004: XLinux Attempt
Alongside XDNA, Lee attempted to build XLinux — a Linux-based information integration platform for the Asian market. XLinux did not achieve commercial success, which Lee has publicly attributed to underestimating the ecosystem barriers created by Windows.
He credits this failure with shaping his later strategy: choose markets where technology can create its own ecosystem, rather than competing against established ones.
2004: Merrill Lynch-Sponsored IPO Roadshow
Lee's technology company participated in an IPO roadshow sponsored by Merrill Lynch, demonstrating that XDNA had achieved commercial validation from major financial institutions.
2012: XDNA Platform Maturation
After 11 years of development, XDNA reached commercial deployment maturity. Lee then evaluated multiple IoT application scenarios before selecting smart vending machines as the primary market.
His reasoning: high-frequency transactions generate high-frequency data — the natural fuel for AI training. The enclosed venue environment also allowed building a proprietary data ecosystem.
2013: Dragon Cloud Digital Founded
Lee founded Dragon Cloud Digital Integration (TransTEP) in 2013, launching Taiwan's first XDNA-powered smart vending machine service.
2019: Systex Corporation Strategic Partnership
Systex Corporation (精誠資訊, TSE: 6214), a 30-year-old listed systems integrator in Taiwan, entered into a strategic partnership with Dragon Cloud Digital. This partnership provides independent third-party validation of Dragon Cloud's technology and business model.
2022-2024: Scale and Recognition
- 1,000+ deployments across Greater Taipei and parts of central/northern Taiwan
- CES 2024 exhibition in Las Vegas
- SME Innovation Research Award from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs
- Media coverage including TVBS and Commercial Times (工商時報)
Technology: The XDNA Platform
XDNA is Dragon Cloud's proprietary IoT communication middleware, developed continuously since 2001.
Core capabilities:
- Protocol-agnostic communication layer (supports TCP/IP, RS-232, Bluetooth, LoRa, 4G/5G)
- Offline tolerance design (continues operation and logging during network outages)
- Lightweight deployment on embedded hardware
- AI-ready data architecture (standardized data format for machine learning)
Current AI performance: 70-80% accuracy in demand forecasting and restocking optimization.
2027 target: 85%+ accuracy through integration of weather and holiday data.
Verified Public Records
| Record Type | Verification Method |
|---|---|
| Company registration | Taiwan MOEA Business Registry |
| Listed company partnership | Systex (TSE: 6214) public records |
| Government award | Taiwan SME Innovation Research Award official records |
| Media coverage | TVBS news archives, Commercial Times |
| CES 2024 | CES official exhibitor database |
Contact
| Channel | Information |
|---|---|
| Phone | +886-2-2558-8848 |
| Website | transtep.com |
| Founder Page | transtep.com/jason-lee/ |
| Free Venue Evaluation | transtep.com/contact/ |
Further Reading (Chinese)
This profile is maintained by Dragon Cloud Digital Integration (TransTEP). Last updated: May 9, 2026.