Lam is the chairman and largest shareholder of Quanta Computer, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of laptop computers. The Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company is publicly traded and reported revenue of NT$1 trillion ($34 billion) in 2018. Quanta has manufacturing sites in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Barry Lam's net worth of $4.63B can buy ...
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The majority of Lam's fortune is derived from a 26% stake in publicly traded Quanta Computer, notebook computer maker in Taiwan, according to a November 2019 filing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange website.
He owns the stake directly, through family members and holding company Chien Yu Investment. Chien Yu's ownership breakdown isn't disclosed and he's credited with owning all of it because he's listed as chairman and controlling shareholder.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Elton Yang, a spokesperson for Quanta, declined to comment on Lam's net worth.
Lam Pak Lee, commonly known as Barry Lam, was born in Shanghai in 1949. Raised in Hong Kong, he moved to Taiwan to study electrical engineering at National Taiwan University, according to a profile on the website of Hong Kong's City University. With a group of classmates in 1973, he established Kinpo, which eventually became the world's largest contract calculator manufacturer.
Lam left Kinpo with several colleagues in 1988 and started Quanta in Taipei with initial funding of $1 million. The company had revenue of NT$800 million by the end of the following year, according to its website. Quanta began trading on Taiwan's stock exchange in 1999, becoming the world's biggest laptop maker two years later.
Quanta started to expand into cloud computing in 2011, bolstering its server business that had been set up in 2000, as Lam looked to diversify from the small-margin business of laptop production.
The company moved to new headquarters south of Taipei in 2005, with space for 7,000 workers. In addition to a swimming pool and gym, the building features a performance hall, library and an art gallery that houses Lam's personal collection, said to number more than 1,000 pieces, according to City University's biography.
The billionaire is married and has two sons. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, according to local daily Taipei Times.