Cher Wang (王雪紅), chairwoman of smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電), has replaced Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) as Taiwan’s richest person on Forbes magazine’s billionaire list this year.
Forbes ranked Wang and her husband, Chen Wen-chi (陳文琦), president and chief executive of chip provider VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子), as Taiwan’s wealthiest couple, with a net worth of US$6.8 billion. The couple, rated the nation’s 11th-richest last year, ranked 143rd worldwide on Forbes’ billionaire list released on Wednesday.
Fubon Group (富邦集團) founder Tsai Wan-tsai (蔡萬才) and family ranked No. 2 in Taiwan, with a combined fortune of US$6.3 billion. The Tsai family ranked 156th on the global list.
Gou, who topped the Taiwan list last year, fell to third place this year, with a net worth of US$5.7 billion and a world ranking of 179th.
Want Want Group (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) was fourth in Taiwan, with a fortune of US$5.2 billion and a global ranking of 196th.
Rounding out the top 10 list were Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) vice chairman Wang Yung-tsai (王永在) in fifth place; Quanta Group (廣達集團) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) in sixth; Lin Yu-lin (林堉璘), founder of the Hong Tai Group (宏泰集團), in seventh; Rong San Lin (林榮三), property and media tycoon and founder of the Liberty Times and its sister paper the Taipei Times at eighth; Cheng Shin Rubber Co (正新輪胎) founder Luo Jye (羅結) and family following in ninth; and Tsai Chen-yu (蔡鎮宇), former vice chairman of Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控), in 10th place.
Worldwide, Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu remained the world’s richest person with a net worth of US$74 billion thanks to his telecoms empire. Already the top dog last year, he increased his fortune by US$20.5 billion.
In a now familiar second place was Microsoft founder Bill Gates with US$56 billion. The relatively lower ranking reflected his enormous philanthropic give-aways over the year, Forbes said.
Next up was US investment guru Warren Buffett and Frenchman Bernard Arnault from the luxury goods group LVMH with US$50 billion and US$41 billion respectively.
Worldwide, the number of billionaires hit a record 1,210, up from 1,011 last year, Forbes said.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
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