Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it has invited Pegatron Corp (和碩) vice chairman Ted Hsu (徐世昌) to serve as the company’s chief strategy officer from next month, an announcement that sparked speculation about the Asustek chairman’s succession plan.
“We are honored to invite Hsu to join Asustek… We expect Hsu’s vision and management abilities to lead Asustek in becoming a leading company in the new digital era,” Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) said in a statement.
The company’s announcement came after the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that Shih plans to retire and let Hsu, one of the founders of Asustek, take over his position.
Photo: Lee Yi-ju, Taipei Times
The 64-year-old Shih has been serving as Asustek chairman for 22 years, successfully leading the company in its transformation from a motherboard maker to a PC vendor. Under Shih’s leadership, the company now aims to become one of the top smartphone vendors in the world.
Shih plans to retire while the company is still growing because he wants to spend more time with his mother, especially after Asustek’s former chief financial officer David Chang (張偉明) unexpectedly passed away in July last year, the report said.
It is widely believed that Shih wants Hsu to take over at Asustek because Hsu has always been valued by Shih as an outstanding talent in the technology industry.
People who are familiar with Shih said he initially planned to appoint Hsu chairman of Pegatron when the contract electronics maker split from Asustek in 2008.
Asustek declined to comment on the speculation about Shih’s succession plan.
“I can only say that we invited Ted [Hsu] to become our chief strategy officer and board member, as he is an extraordinary talent, but the company will not comment on the report,” Asustek spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
Wu said chief strategy officer is a new position at Asustek which oversees the company’s research and development, quality control, customer services, and cloud-computing and artificial intelligence businesses.
Asustek plans to convene a provisional shareholders meeting in the next three months to officially nominate Hsu as a new board member, Wu said.
Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said Hsu would resign from all his posts at Pegatron and its subsidiaries before the end of this month.
Hsu has been Tung’s business partner for more than 20 years and it was Hsu’s personal choice to leave Pegatron, Tung said in a statement.
“Hsu made a brave and difficult career decision. His exit from the company has nothing to do with Pegatron’s business position and the company’s operations will not be affected,” Tung said by telephone.
Tung said he, chief executive officer Jason Cheng (程建中) and chief operating officer S.J. Liao (廖錫政) would host a farewell party for Hsu.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique