"The reason Barry is so bullish is because he got the iMac contract," Tseng said. "Quanta was hitting the ceiling with its existing clients."
One of those clients, Dell, has prodded Quanta to move more of its production to mainland China, where labor and other costs are much lower.
Joining the exodus to China raised ticklish issues for Lam. He is a strong supporter of Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), whose party has expressed misgivings about the migration of technology and jobs from Taiwan to the mainland. Until recently, Taiwan restricted the production of notebook computers by local companies in China.
Getting a head start
Lam's solution was to say little about Quanta's ambitions in China, while quietly laying the groundwork for an expansion. The company built a sprawling factory near Shanghai, with room for 20,000 workers. By the time Taiwan lifted the restrictions on manufacturing in China last fall, Quanta already had 2,000 people in place there.
By the end of 2003, Lam said, two-thirds of Quanta's notebook PCs will be assembled in the Shanghai factory. By 2004, the company will have an estimated 4,800 employees in the Chinese mainland, almost as many as in Taiwan.
Lam, however, hastens to add that Quanta will remain committed to Taiwan. He plans to build an architecturally splashy research and development center across the street from his headquarters. In addition to a hotel for Quanta's guests, it will house a museum devoted to science and technology.
"I love my country so much," Lam exclaimed suddenly, after the conversation drifted back to China. "I'm OK with our president."
Lam speaks with the patriotic fervor of an immigrant. He was born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, where his father worked as an accountant at the Hong Kong Club, a watering hole for the city's British colonial elite.
When Lam failed his entrance examination for the University of Hong Kong, his father sent him to Taiwan to enroll at National Taiwan University. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and soon founded his first company, a pocket calculator maker that became the world's largest manufacturer. In 1988, he started Quanta.
Lam owns one-third of the company's shares, making him one of the richest men in Asia, with a fortune of about US$1.7 billion. He says Taiwan's tradition of entrepreneurship will keep it ahead of China for the foreseeable future.
"You cannot build another Acer Inc (宏電) without Stan Shih (施振榮)," he said, referring to one of Taiwan's business leaders. "You cannot build another Quanta without Barry Lam."
Lam's art collection is the most obvious sign of his wealth, but he is no mere dabbler. He is regarded as the leading private collector of Zhang Daqian, and speaks fluently about the artist's work. Lam said that when he turns 59 -- which will coincide with Quanta's 20th anniversary -- he would retire to open a new art museum in Taiwan.
"Taiwan has been so well developed economically," Lam said. "But we are underdeveloped culturally."
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