Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and his brother Richard Tsai (蔡明興) of Fubon Group (富邦集團) were ranked the richest people in the nation on Forbes magazine’s Taiwan’s 50 Richest list for this year.
The brothers took first place for the third consecutive year with their fortune totaling US$10 billion after shares of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) soared.
In addition to financial and telecom services, Fubon Group also runs television and online retailer Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體), Forbes said.
Meanwhile, Morris Chang (張忠謀), chairman of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), entered the list for the first time to take 50th place as TSMC shares hit a record high last month, Forbes said.
Chang, who is worth US$930 million, owns about a 0.5 percent stake in TSMC, the world’s largest pure wafer foundry operator.
Although Chang was placed on the list for the first time, it was not his first recognition by Forbes, due to his achievements in the semiconductor industry.
Chang, who has been called the “Silicon Godfather” by the New York Times, was in 2001 put on the cover of the international edition of the magazine as “The Catalyst,” Forbes said.
In 2012, he appeared on the cover of Forbes Asia as Businessman of the Year.
Terry Gou (郭台銘), chairman of iPhone and iPad assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), came in second on the list with a net worth of US$9.5 billion.
Tsai Hung-tu (蔡宏圖) and his brother Tsai Cheng-da (蔡政達) of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) took third place with a net worth of US$7.2 billion, ahead of Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), who chairs food conglomerate Want Want Group (旺旺集團), with US$6 billion and Lin Yu-lin (林堉璘), head of property developer Hong Tai Group (宏泰集團), with US$5.6 billion.
The Wang (王) family, which owns Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, came in sixth with US$5.4 billion, followed by the Wei (魏) family of food conglomerate Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團) with US$5.3 billion and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) with US$4.2 billion.
Jason Chang (張虔生) and his brother Richard Chang (張洪本) of IC packaging and testing firm Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體) followed with US$4 billion, while Luo Jye (羅結), founder of Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co (正新橡膠), was 10th with US$3.8 billion.
The magazine said that the nation’s tycoons have largely benefited from a strong showing in the domestic equity market.
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