Stan Shih Led Acer’s March To A Top Five Global PC Brand. What’s He Doing Now?

Stan Shih entered the working world in the 1960s when Taiwan was best known in international business as an exporter of sugar, rice and pineapples. His career reached a turning point in 1976 as a co-founder of Multitech, a beneficiary of global demand for cheap knockoffs of IBM PCs that gave Taiwan its first tech moniker: clone kingdom. Shih and his partners defied local convention in 1987 when Multitech changed its name to Acer and took on bigger global rivals by selling own-brand PCs.

The switch worked. Through ups and downs nearly 50 years later, Acer still ranks as one of the world’s top 10 computer brands, a feat it first chalked up in the 1990s. And like decades ago, Shih – still Acer’s executive director and honorary chairman at age 79 — aims to think outside of box.

In a recent Forbes interview at his Taipei area home, Shih spoke of exploring the interface between new technology and culture, an area he referred to as “Oriental sivilization.” He came up with the spelling by switching the “c” in civilization with “s” for silicon. “All civilization is related to technology, silicon technology is currently a center of it, and Taiwan is ahead of the world in the silicon technology area,” Shih said, alluding to its current niche in advanced chipmaking for the likes of Nvidia and Intel.

As part of the push, Shih supports more than a dozen cultural organizations associated more with artists than fellow geeks. Among them, Shih-backed CTAmbi’s “Ambi Space” in glitzy Taipei 101 – the city’s highest tower at 101 stories – showcases combination art-electronics images. Other seemingly unlikely groups that the computer industry pioneer now leads: Cloud Gate Culture and Arts Foundation – a contemporary dance community, as well as the One Song Orchestra Fun Club, which organizes performances of traditional Taiwanese music in a European orchestra style.

Reflecting on Acer’s influence over the years, Shih spoke of former colleagues that have gone on to make a mark in government as well as technology. “It’s a good thing,” he said of their career moves. Rather than seeing the outflow of executives as a loss, Shih views Acer’s cultivation of talent as benefiting Taiwan and an extension of his own life as a social entrepreneur. Among one-time Acer executives to move on: Lora Ho, senior vice president at global chip heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), T.H Tung, chairman of contract electronics manufacturer Pegatron, Simon Lin, chairman of Acer spinoff Wistron, Simon Chang, currently mayor for northern Taiwan city of Taoyuan, and Taiwan Cabinet Minister without Portfolio John Deng.

“If we are talking about making money, we are not good as TSMC,” said Shih; he knows that chipmaker well as a former board of director member there. “But if we are talking about the contribution and influence in the high-tech industry, I think we played a very important role.”

Colley Hwang, long-time Taiwan IT industry expert and publisher of Taipei-headquartered tech daily Digitimes, agrees. “Without the powerful personal computer industry led by Acer, there would not have been the subsequent flourishing of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry,” Hwang says. “Stan Shih is the bravest entrepreneurial pioneer in Taiwan, daring to launch a brand. In comparison to the long-standing contract manufacturing culture and environment in Taiwan, his courage to keep trying and take on challenges is particularly precious.”

From a humble post-World War II start, Taiwan’s economy today ranks as the world’s 22^nd largest; tech companies account for the largest share of market capitalization of the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Local businesses that rank on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s top publicly traded companies include Hon Hai Precision — the big supplier to Apple led by billionaire Terry Gou, as well as TSMC, whose customers include Apple and Intel.

Shih’s beginnings in business came as a research engineer in Unitron Industry Corp., “the first Taiwanese company with a R&D department,” he noted in a 1989 speech. Before Multitech, he also co-founded Qualitron Industrial Corp., the developer of Taiwan’s first electronic calculator and the world’s first pen watch, Shih in that same address.

Besides bold ambition, Acer in the 1990s expanded in part through overseas acquisitions, such as of the notebook computer business of Texas Instruments and PC business of home computer maker Commodore International. Shih won plaudits as Taiwan’s only world-leading PC brand, and authored business titles such as “Me Too Is Not My Style” in 1996 about Acer’s business approach; he later came to be associated with a “new wangdao” philosophy of altruism that traces back to ancient China. Companies “must create value for the organization and society not only in terms of visible value, but also in invisible value such as organizational culture, training talent, branding, research and development,” according to a website run by a Shih foundation. He spoke to Forbes in front a mini-Buddhist alter in his home, and has also been an advisor to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, one of the island’s biggest largest non-profit groups.

That culture didn’t lead to lasting business success, however. Shih stepped down as Acer chairman in 2004, only to return for approximately 200 days to see the company through financial trouble in 2013. “In high tech, maybe every 10 years, you need to do some transformation and re-engineering,” he said. “It’s not easy.”

“Taiwan is good in B2B, but we’re try to breakthrough the B2C branding,” Shih noted. He remains Acer’s honorary chairman, and holds a seat on a company board of directors that also includes his son Maverick Shih, the holder of a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California; Jason Chen, 62, a former Intel and TSMC executive, took over as CEO in 2014 after the Shih-led restructuring, and has been both chairman and CEO since 2017.

It’s gone well of late. Acer today employs more than 7,800 people around the world – less than half in Taiwan. It ranked No.145 on the 2023 Forbes list of the World’s Best Employers and No. 259 on the 2023 Forbes ranking of the World’s Top Companies for Women. Acer was the world’s No. 5 PC brand in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a 12% increase in shipments from a year earlier — the fastest among that top group, according to research firm Canalys. For the quarter, Acer’s market share of 6% was only behind Lenovo (24.7%), HP (20.9%), Dell (15.2%) and Apple (10.1%). Helped in part by sales of Predator gaming PCs, Acer’s shares have gained nearly 90% in the past year; they ended 2023 at one of their best closes in more than a decade. Shih and his family own 6% of the company, which has a market capitalization of NT$145 billion, or about $4.5 billion.

Acer’s one-year performance, as good as it was, was even overshadowed by Acer’s most powerful spinoff. Led by former Acer President Simon Lin, server maker Wistron’s shares have soared by more than 300% at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in the past year. Its market capitalization of NT$362 billion today is more than double Acer’s. Another early spinoff, panel-maker AUO, has a market capitalization of NT$139 billion. Underscoring Acer and Shih’s continuing expanse, Acer itself currently controls 11 listed tech-related companies in Taiwan including Acer Gadget, Acer Gaming, Weblink International Inc., Acer Cyber Security Inc., Acer E-Enabling Service Business, Aopen Inc., Acer Medical Inc., Highpoint Service Network, Protrade Applied Materials, and Acer Synergy Manpower Group.

Beyond helping to lead Acer itself, Shih said a key personal mission today is to link technology and culture. The holder of undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering has been a board member of Cloud Gate Foundation since 2000 and its chairman since 2018; he is the main supporter for the dancing group’s “Wanderer Project” that provides young adventurers opportunities to travel the world and gain experiences that will help steer their life and careers.

“Shih avidly supports the arts, and has led the board at Cloud Gate with leadership and insights from a global aspect proven vital to the foundation,” says Jessie Jen, assistant to Cloud Gate’s executive director. When it comes to music, Shih has promoted the performance of Taiwanese folk songs performed in European-style orchestra though his support for the “One Song Orchestra.” He hopes the sound will be as popular as Vienna orchestras’ in Taiwan in 20 years. To help, the Orchestra hired Austria’s Recreation Orchestra’s conductor Mei-Ann Chen to lead this year’s New Year’s event called “Sounds of Taiwan.”

“Stan wholeheartedly promotes the values of Taiwan’s local culture, including supporting cultural groups,” said Digitimes’ Hwang. “He further takes on roles as a promoter for over a dozen cultural institutions, demonstrating a high ambition to integrate cultural and technological industries. The selfless dedication of this man to Taiwan’s economy and culture serves as an exemplary model for the Taiwanese people.”

If that isn’t enough, Shih is involved in projects to advance low-emission yachts and logistics transportation. He also is a member of the board of Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation and Chinese Television System.

“Throughout his career and all his life, he has been a social entrepreneur,” according to a biography on the StanShih Foundation website. Nearly into his ninth decade in life, that’s one mission that the elder maverick shows no sign of changing.

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@rflannerychina