Foxconn CEO Young Liu honoured with Padma Bhushan; what it means

One of India's highest civilian honours to Taiwanese Foxconn CEO Liu comes when PM Modi has been trying to attract foreign investment in India projecting the country as Asia’s next manufacturing hub amid efforts by the US and its allies to move supply chains away from China. Taiwan produces over 60% of the world's semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced ones.

New Delhi: In what can be seen as a message to Beijing, Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn CEO, Young Liu, was honoured with the Padma Bhushan by the Centre on Thursday. India for the first time conferred one of its highest civilian awards upon someone from Taiwan, which produces over 60% of the world's semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced ones.

Foxconn is the world's largest electronics manufacturer and a leading global science and technology solutions provider based out of Taiwan, which is at loggerheads with China.

As per Foxconn's official website, Liu is a recognised entrepreneur and innovator with over four decades of industry experience. In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the awardees, saying that India “cherishes their contribution across diverse sectors”.

• Had a good meeting with Mr. Young Liu. Our discussions covered various topics aimed at enhancing India’s tech and innovation eco-system. https://t.co/a2hgQtKvjG

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 1, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Had a good meeting with Mr. Young Liu. Our discussions covered various topics aimed at enhancing India’s tech and innovation eco-system. https://t.co/a2hgQtKvjG

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 1, 2023

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  Had a good meeting with Mr. Young Liu. Our discussions covered various topics aimed at enhancing India’s tech and innovation eco-system. https://t.co/a2hgQtKvjG

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 1, 2023

The recognition from India to Taiwanese technocrat comes at a time when PM Modi has been wooing foreign investors and portraying India as Asia’s next manufacturing hub amid desperate efforts by the US and its allies to move supply chains away from China.

Liu, who met PM Modi during his visit to India last March, said the company would “continue to build an ecosystem in India which would allow all our stakeholders to share, collaborate and thrive”.

The company said recently that it planned to build a chip packaging and testing plant in India with HCL Group.

Last year, Foxconn, a leading supplier for American tech titan Apple, announced investments in India worth US$1.6 billion to diversify away from China.

Liu founded three companies-- a motherboard company in 1988 known as Young Micro Systems; a Northbridge and southbridge IC design company in 1995 focused on the PC chipset and an ITE Tech and an ADSL IC design company, ITeX in 1997. Liu earned an M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1986 and a B.S. degree in Electrophysics from Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University in 1978, as per the Foxconn website. Foxconn has rapidly expanded its presence in India by investing as part of its supply chain diversification from China in an evolved post-pandemic world order.

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