Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder and chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple Inc, became Taiwan’s richest person again this year, despite a noticeable decline of his wealth, Forbes said on Tuesday.
Despite a 23 percent, or US$2.2 billion, decline in his fortune over the past year, Gou took the No. 1 spot, up from No. 2 last year, with total wealth of US$7.3 billion, the magazine said.
The magazine attributed his falling wealth to a drop in the local stock market and a strengthening US dollar amid a trade war between the US and China.
Shares in Hon Hai Industry Co (鴻海精密) have taken a hit in the second half of this year amid trade tensions between the US and China and worries that sales for the latest-generation iPhone series would disappoint.
Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新國際集團) Wei brothers — Wei Ing-chou (魏應州), Wei Ying-chiao (魏應交), Wei Yin-chun (魏應充) and Wei Ying-heng (魏應行) — ranked second this year, with assets totaling US$7.2 billion, followed by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) chairman Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖) at US$7.1 billion in third, the magazine said.
Fubon Group’s (富邦集團) Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興) were bumped off from No. 1 to No. 4, with family assets estimated at US$5.7 billion, ahead of Want Want Group (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) at US$5.6 billion in fifth, it said.
Petrochemical and plastics giant Chang Chun Group (長春集團) cofounder Lin Shu-Hong (林書鴻) enjoyed the largest growth in wealth over the past year to jump to sixth place with US$3.9 billion in assets, it added.
Rounding out the top-10 places were Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) founder and chairman Barry Lim (林百里) in seventh with US$3.6 billion in wealth; Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc’s (日月光) Jason Chang (張虔生) and Richard Chang (張洪本) in eighth with US$3.2 billion; Yageo Corp (國巨) founder and CEO Pierre Chen (陳泰銘) in ninth at US$3.1 billion; and Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co (正新橡膠) chairman Luo Jye (羅結) in 10th with US$2.9 billion, Forbes said.
No women made the magazine’s list of top 10 richest people in Taiwan this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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