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.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
RSS