Man On The Move: Latest Acquisition Underscores Taiwan Tech Billionaire Pierre Chen’s Global Ambitions




The home of Taiwan electronics billionaire Pierre Chen faces the breadth of the northern Taiwan basin that takes in the sprawling city of Taipei. Paintings by Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso and Peter Doig, among others, hang on the walls. Successful as a nitty-gritty engineer, global businessman and art collector, Chen is plainly a man with an expansive view of life.


Chen is increasingly expanding his horizons in electronics industry that helped account for the majority of his $5 billion fortune on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today, making him Taiwan’s fourth-richest man. This week, his flagship Yageo announced a $1 billion acquisition of Taiwan-based Chilisin Electronics that will expand its capacitor business. In April, Yageo unveiled plans to form a joint venture with fellow Taiwan billionaire Terry Gou’s Hon Hai Technology Group to make semiconductors. Though Yageo is no small fish – it’s market cap today was nearly $10 billion, Hon Hai is one of the world’s largest electronics makers and an Apple supplier that boasts a market cap of $41 billion.


The new company, XSemi, will be based in Hsinchu, Taiwan’s tech hub, and make chips that sell for less than $2.00 or “small ICs.” “The semiconductor industry is facing the biggest upheaval in the past three decades,” said Hon Hai Technology Group Chairman Young Liu in a statement. “Now is undoubtedly the best timing to initiate strategic partnerships in various segments.”


Yet the relationship between the two businesses is headed beyond chips. The two last year forged a strategic alliance to combine two groups’ resources R&D capabilities in crucial components. “We can leverage each other,” Chen said in an interview in May. Both have manufacturing, technology and research expertise; Yageo has global sales channels and four affiliated, publicly traded companies in place to help: Kaimei Electronics, Tong Hsing Electronic and Global Testing, along with Chilisin Electronics. ทดลองเล่นสล็อต


Chen’s Hon Hai and Chilisin moves follow other recent agreements to expand his global reach. Yageo’s completion last year of the $1.8 billion acquisition of U.S. electronics components maker Kemet has brought customers from the auto industry. In 2019, it paid $740 million for U.S. electronics maker Pulse, and last year, Yageo also invested $10 million in Los Angeles-headquartered EV start-up Canoo. EV vehicles have been getting more attention than ever following big stock gains by Tesla and highly valued China IPOs such as Li Auto and XPeng. Chen sees a bright future in the business.


“EV is for sure is going to change the older car and automotive industry — both EV and autonomous vehicles. It’s not the industry standard yet but you can see so many new ideas; we know this is the market trend for the automotive industry,” Chen said in an interview last year. “I don’t want EV to become a mature or successful business model before Yageo responds. We need to be proactive, get into the industry firsthand, and understand the models and requirements. I’m not an EV player, but I’m an important component supplier and solution.” Hon Hai, too is turning to EVs for growth. The company in May said it would team up with Fisker of the U.S. to manufacture EVs.