Hon Hai's Gou dubbed richest man in Taiwan

Terry Gou (郭台銘), chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, replaced the late Tsai Wang-lin (蔡萬霖) as the nation's wealthiest man, with assets of US$3.2 billion, according to a Forbes survey published yesterday. Gou ranked 170th on the magazine's list of the world's billionaires for this year.

Gou, 54, was ranked 176th richest on the Forbes list for last year, with assets of US$2.8 billion, while Lin Yuan Group founder Tsai, who died in September of respiratory failure at the age of 79, was ranked No. 94 last year with assets of US$4.6 billion.

Gou his fortune after starting the company in 1974 with an investment of NT$300,000 to make plastic knobs for television sets. Now Hon Hai Precision mainly produces electrical connectors and assembles personal computers for Dell and Hewlett-Packard, and is tapping into mobile phone and flat-screen liquid-crystal-display manufacturing.

Several Taiwanese billionaires are on this year's list. They are: Formosa Group chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), 188th at US$3.1 billion; Fubon Group chairman Tsai Wan-tsai (蔡萬才), 203rd at US$2.9 billion; and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co chairman Jeffrey Koo Sr. (辜濂松), 243rd at US$2.5 billion.

Evergreen Group founder Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) and Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam (林百里) tied for 507th richest on the list, with US$1.3 billion in assets each, while Chi Mei Group founder Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) was 620th with a fortune of US$1.0 billion.

Asia-wide, Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of Mittal Steel Co, overtook Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) as Asia's richest person, Forbes said.

Mittal, 54, had the biggest increase in personal wealth in the annual survey by Forbes, jumping to the No. 3 spot behind Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chairman Warren Buffett as his fortune increased by US$18.8 billion to US$25 billion. Hong Kong's Li, 76, was 22nd with US$13 billion.

Indian-born Mittal has bought steel mills from Poland to South Africa since 2003, benefiting from soaring demand from shipyards and building sites in China. Li, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, has concentrated on expanding his mobile-phone businesses.

"It shows the rise of commodities and the fall of tech," said Manu Bhaskaran, head of economic research at Centennial Group.