CHER WANG

1958–

Often described as one of the most powerful women in technology, entrepreneur and philanthropist Cher Wang cofounded the Taiwanese consumer electronics company HTC. Always keen to anticipate market trends, she grew HTC into a global tech giant.

Cher Wang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1958, one of the nine children of the plastics and petrochemicals billionaire Wang Yung-Ching. Her father taught her about business practices and philanthropy from a young age and encouraged her to further her education overseas. She first studied music but then switched her degree to economics.

In 1982, Wang joined First International Computer, which had been cofounded by her sister, Charlene. Here, Wang sold motherboards and ran the personal computer division. Her work took her to Europe, where she would have to carry big, bulky computers through train stations en route to her clients. This gave her the idea to create a more portable, handheld device. In 1987, she founded VIA Technologies, Inc., developing silicon chip technology in California and later moving the company to Taiwan to take advantage of opportunities in its burgeoning IT industries.

Together with her friend H. T. Cho and an electrical engineer, Peter Chou, Wang set up HTC in 1997. They started out manufacturing notebook computers but found the business volatile and competitive. For Wang, the market for handheld devices offered more opportunity, and very soon HTC was producing smartphones and working in partnership with Microsoft, Google, and T-Mobile, among others. Keeping abreast of consumer, market, and technological trends has been key to her company’s success. Going forward, Wang has said that she intends to explore new technologies, such as XR (extended reality), with a view to making HTC what she describes as “a complete ecosystem company.”