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.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS