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Liu Young-way runs the world’s largest electronics supplier. Portrait of the president of the Taiwanese giant Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn. A low profile man at the helm of a multinational company undergoing restructuring.
By Gregory Genevrier
If you are holding an iPhone in your hands, then most likely it came from one of the factories of the Foxconn group. But this electronics giant is not limited to Apple, since its clients also include Amazon, Dell, Google, Sony and Xiaomi. In figures, Foxconn has more than a million employees in China, 200 subsidiaries around the world and a turnover of 206,000 million dollars in 2021.
But what is less well known is the man at the helm. Liu Young-Way, a 66-year-old Taiwanese, has replaced the highly influential Terry Gou, founder and former chairman of Foxconn, in 2019. An appointment obtained thanks to his experience, according to Mathieu Duchâtel, director of the Asia program of the “think tank” Institut Montaigne: “We do not have here a mere Foxconn employee, we have someone who was hired a long time later thanks to his own success as “Entrepreneur. Thanks to his experience, especially in semiconductor design, Liu Young-way was appointed director of Foxconn’s semiconductor business, before being chosen as Terry Gou’s successor.”
The weight of Foxconn’s strategic transformation, focused on new industries, now falls on the shoulders of Liu Young-Way.
Main challenges
Until now, this electrical engineering graduate has had a bumpy road ahead of him, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended the entire industry and led to a shortage of semiconductors. This is a key component that underpins all of the technologies produced by Foxconn. Supply issues have caused delivery delays, although Liu-Young has always been reassuring, speaking of a relatively limited impact.
China’s strict health policy makes the situation even more difficult. Foxconn has had to deal with this “Covid zero” policy, which is especially bad for business. Regular lockdowns, daily check-ups, mass isolation and unpaid company bonuses have pushed the group’s workers to their limits. It was a month ago at Foxconn’s biggest factory in Zhengzhou. Thousands of workers rebelled and left their posts. As a consequence, the group’s workshops are without workers and production is paralyzed.
This mobilization in the largest employer in the Chinese private sector has become a symbol of the growing social unrest and the economic impact of this policy of restrictions. Although Liu Young-way has been silent as usual, it appears that Foxconn has played a significant role in the recent reversal of China’s “Covid zero” policy.
Diversification
Beyond the economic losses, all this has pushed Liu Young-way to accelerate the restructuring of Foxconn. The group is diversifying and is now focusing on two new growth drivers: semiconductors and electric cars. Liu Young-way presented the first prototypes to great fanfare a few weeks ago.
And the Chinese economic environment has encouraged Foxconn not to put all its eggs in one basket. For this reason, the group continues to develop its activities outside of China. “Foxconn’s future in China is in electric vehicles,” explains Mathieu Duchâtel. But the future of Apple’s business and of Foxconn’s semiconductor arm will be outside of China,” he adds.
In any case, Liu Young-way does not seem weakened by the storms he has been through. As a captain of industry, he uses his discretion to give himself some leeway. A strategy that has so far paid off, keeping Foxconn afloat.
