00:00What kind of person builds one of the most valuable tech empires on the planet
00:05and still barely becomes a household name?
00:07In an opinion piece by K. Katya Guggen, one name stands out.
00:12See, Tan Hock Eng built his reputation differently.
00:15He was born in Penang in 1951, a Malaysian kid from a modest background,
00:21bright enough to earn a scholarship to MIT when he completed both a bachelor's
00:25and master's in engineering by 1975.
00:27Then came Harvard Business School, an MBA, and a career that didn't look flashy at first,
00:34but slowly took shape.
00:35He moved through engineering, finance, and investment roles,
00:38Union Carbide, General Motors, PepsiCo, Commodore.
00:42Then in 1999, he became CEO of a small U.S. chip company.
00:47That's where everything clicked.
00:49His strategy was simple.
00:50Find companies with critical technology, buy them, cut the excess, and run them hard.
00:56Less Steve Jobs, more Warren Buffett, but with semiconductors.
01:02In 2005, he took over Avago Technologies.
01:05Over the next decade, he turned it into an acquisition machine.
01:09Then came the turning point.
01:11In 2015, Avago bought Broadcom in a massive deal and kept the Broadcom name.
01:17No ego, just strategy.
01:19From there, the playbook repeated.
01:22CA Technologies, Symantec's enterprise business, then VMware in 2023.
01:27It wasn't always popular.
01:29There were layoffs.
01:31There were complaints.
01:32But it worked.
01:34Broadcom became one of the most valuable companies in the world.
01:37And then came AI.
01:39In early 2026, its AI semiconductor revenue hit 35 billion ringgit, more than doubling in a year.
01:46Today, the company Hawk Town built is worth about 6.7 trillion ringgit, more than three times Malaysia's GDP.
01:53He's also one of the highest paid executives in the U.S.
01:57Which makes this story inspiring, but also a little sobering.
02:02Because it shows that world-class talent can come from here.
02:05It already has.
02:07A boy from Penang built a company that rivals entire economies.
02:11But he didn't build it here.
02:13And somewhere in Malaysia right now, there's another kid like him.
02:18The question is, when that moment comes, will Malaysia be ready for them?
02:23Will it be able to nurture them and give them a reason to build here?
02:27For the full story, read K. Katir Guggen's piece, The Penang Boy Who Built a 6.7 trillion ringgit Empire
02:34on FMTE.
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