Details

Type

Text

Title

Lee, K.Y. (Kun-Yao) oral history

Contributor

Lee, K.Y. (Kun-Yao), Interviewee

Ling-Fei Lin, Interviewer

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C., Sponsor

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Date

2011-03-08

Extent

43 p.; 61 p.

Copyright Holder

Computer History Museum

Description

Born in Houlong, Taiwan, the son of a rice mill owner, K.Y. Lee went on to earn a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University and a an MBA from Switzerland IMD. He began his career in high tech at Rongtai Electronics after a stint in Taiwan’s military. There he met and worked with Stan Shih whom he later helped build the company that ultimately became Acer. At Acer Mr. Lee filled several roles over the years, the final one being Vice President of PC Product Marketing. In this oral history he speaks frankly about the challenges that were faced by the Taiwanese high tech companies like Acer that were trying to compete in the global market in the early years and offers his opinions of some of his fellow IT pioneers. Mr. Lee discusses his own contributions to the growth of the Taiwanese high tech industry, the founding of BenQ in 1984 and the tangled relationship between the two companies over the years.

The birth and evolution of the Taiwanese semiconductor, PC motherboard, PC, LCD, mobile phone and ODM businesses are all subjects that Mr. Lee addresses based upon his both direct and indirect involvement in all of those efforts. Additionally he talks about the influence of the Taiwanese government’s funding and organizations such as ITRI on the development of the Taiwanese high tech companies within a fiercely competitive global market in the 80s and 90s.

K. Y. Lee went on to serve as Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BenQ Corporation, Chairman of AU Optronics Corp. and BenQ Mobile Systems; Director of Darfon Electronics Corporation and Daxon Technology Inc.

Category

Transcription

Subject

semiconductor history; subcontracting; micro professor; ITT; Lee, David; Transplant; Shih, Stan; Shih, Jonney; Acer; BenQ; Qisda; Monitor; mobile phone; TFTs (thin film transistors); LCD; IBM; Au Optronics; Siemens; merger

Collection Title

Oral histories online

Series Title

Taiwanese Information Technology (IT) pioneers

Accession Number

102745995

Related Records

102746191

Taiwanese Information Technology (IT) pioneers : oral history series