Foxconn let founder Gou walk away in 2019, then set records under Young Liu

Terry Gou founded Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) in 1974 with $7,500 and ran it as a one-man rule for 45 years, holding both the chairman and CEO titles for most of his tenure. In 2019 he stepped down to pursue Taiwan's presidency, leaving the world's largest contract electronics maker — and Apple's biggest supplier — without its founder at the helm for the first time.

The board did not look for another Gou. It chose Young Liu, a semiconductor veteran who had joined in 2007 and built the chip business, as chairman in June 2019. Liu professionalized governance: independent directors took a board majority, women took a third of seats, and in April 2024 he split his own job by introducing a rotating CEO system explicitly designed to groom the next generation of leaders.

Under Liu, Foxconn rode AI server demand to records. Revenue reached NT$6.86 trillion (about US$229 billion) in 2024 with net income of NT$152.7 billion, both all-time highs, and market capitalization rose 138% in a year. Shareholders re-elected him chairman through 2028. Gou resigned his board seat in 2023 and remains only the largest shareholder.

Record NT$6.86T revenue and NT$152.7B net income in 2024; market cap up 138% in a year

Gou's political exit forced a real succession instead of an endless founder regency.

Liu came from semiconductors, the newest business, aligning leadership with the AI-server future rather than the iPhone past.

Splitting the chair and CEO roles in 2024 turned a one-time handover into a repeatable system.

A board with an independent majority made the transition credible to Apple and institutional investors.

A founder can leave if the successor comes from a business the founder built last, not from his shadow; institutionalizing succession beats cloning the founder.

Foxconn kept its 44% share of global electronics manufacturing and over 40% of AI server assembly; 2025 revenue reached NT$8.1 trillion, up 18% year on year. The rotating CEO system now cycles senior executives through the top operating job to produce Liu's own successor.