Why Foxconn chief Young Liu has been honoured with Padma Bhushan
Foxconn chairman Young Liu from Taiwan was on Thursday conferred with Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award.
Young Liu, the chief executive officer and chairman of Taiwanese technology giant Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), was among the 132 awardees of the Padma wards approved by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of 75th Republic Day.
Who is Young Liu?
• Since 2019, Young Liu has been leading Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and the owner of the biggest iPhone factory.
• Young Liu has a rich entrepreneurial background spanning over four decades.
• Young Liu founded three companies: A motherboard company Young Micro Systems in 1988, 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.
• Young Liu holds an MS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California (1986) and a BS degree in Electrophysics from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University (1978).
In July, Foxconn chief Young Liu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, where both attended the Semicon India 2023 conference. The meeting occurred shortly after the Taiwanese company withdrew from a $20 billion joint venture, Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductors Limited, aiming to establish the first chip manufacturing plant in India.
However, Foxconn expressed plans to apply separately to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the country.
President Murmu approves 132 Padma awards
President Droupadi Murmu approved the conferment of 132 Padma Awards, including Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri on the eve of Republic Day. Among the awardees, 30 are women, eight are from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, and nine are posthumous.
Alongside Young, Padma Bhushan was awarded to 16 other prominent individuals, including actor Mithun Chakraborty, BJP veteran Ram Naik, late actor Vijaykanth, singer Usha Uthup, Group Editor and CEO of Gujarati newspaper Janmabhoomi Kundan Vyas, veteran actor and director Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo, former Union health minister CP Thakur, and BJP leader Olanchery Rajagopal.
The awards—Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order, and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field—are announced annually on Republic Day. These Awards are conferred by the President at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March / April every year.