Wang Yung-tsai (王永在), cofounder of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), passed away at 11:15am yesterday with family members around him, the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate announced.
Wang, who died aged 93, is a younger brother of Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), the other founder of the group.
The younger Wang was called “the grand architect” of the group’s production site in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) — which encompasses the nation’s sixth naphtha cracker, an oil factory, a power plant and a harbor — because he supervised its construction, which started in 1994, the group said.
Photo: CNA
The production site generates sales of NT$1.5 trillion (US$48.54 billion) a year, an official of the group, who declined to be named, told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Last year, the group, which employs about 100,000 workers, reported revenue of NT$2.45 trillion and said it expected the figure would increase to NT$2.6 trillion this year.
Wang Yung-tsai also helped the group to develop its electronic materials business, which includes Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) — the nation’s biggest DRAM chipmaker — and Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) — which is a joint venture between Micron Technology Inc of the US and Taoyuan-based Nanya Technology.
The younger Wang was in charge of the group after his brother retired in 2002. He retired himself as vice chairman of the group in 2006, handing over the company to seven people, including group chairman William Wong (王文淵), who is Wang Yung-tsai’s son; vice chairperson Susan Wang (王瑞華), who is Wang Yung-ching’s daughter; Wilfred Wang (王文潮), William Wong’s younger brother; and Sandy Wang (王瑞瑜), Susan Wang’s younger sister.
Before Formosa Plastics Group was founded in 1954, Wang Yung-tsai and his elder brother operated rice and lumber businesses together.
“Currently the group has many important ongoing projects,” William Wong said in an e-mail yesterday.”
“We hope that everyone in the group will learn the simple and diligent style and courage of the group’s two founders to accomplish the goals,” Wong said.
Wang Yung-tsai was five years younger than Wang Yung-ching, who passed away in 2008.
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭) expressed gratitude to Wang Yung-tsai for his contribution to the nation’s economy.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS