Chinese automakers like Warren Buffett-backed BYD are in the global spotlight due to their good fortune in the world’s largest auto market (mainland China) and rising sales of electric vehicles. However, one of the country’s biggest winners in the new global market list of 2000 is rarely an electric vehicle brand: it is the supplier of a multibillion-dollar glassmaker in the industry.
“The global economy is going through a deep restructuring, and the automotive industry is developing faster than other industries,” Cho Tak Wong, chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry, said in a recent interview. “I’m positive about (his) development. Even if GDP expansion is zero, the auto industry will still grow by 2 to 3 percent. “
Fuyao Glass, which controls about a third of the global automotive glass market, climbed 406 places in the Global 2000 2024 list from last year, from 1,938th to 1,532nd place. The manufacturer is one of 324 Chinese corporations (including mainland China and Hong Kong). ) to make the list, only the United States this year. Little known in the West, the Fuqing-based company is a world leader in automotive glass with Nippon Sheet Glass, Saint-Gobain and AGC. Its consumers include Honda, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Ford, and Chrysler.
Fuyao rose rapidly, thanks in part to the rise in its shares, which are traded on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares are up 46% over the past year; On the other hand, Chinese electric vehicle leader BYD lost more than 10% of its price despite the explosive expansion of deliveries. Fuyao’s rise helped boost Cho’s estimated fortune to $3. 8 billion this week.
Fuyao’s appearance on the Global 2000 list this year is also a result of its improved monetary performance. Fuyao’s sales have increased both domestically, where it generated about 55% of its cash last year, and overseas. Net profit rose 18% in 2023 year-on-year to 5. 6 billion yuan, or 778 million U. S. dollars. Sales rose 18 percent to 33 billion yuan.
Cho – also known as Cao Dewang – and Fuyao constitute the private-sector influence born of China’s post-Mao economic reforms in the 1980s that helped turn the country of 1. 4 billion people into the world’s second-largest economy. With a road network about the same length as the United States, China’s car production and sales in 2023 totaled 30. 2 million sets (12% year-on-year) and 30. 1 million sets (12% year-on-year), two records that surpassed 30 million units for the first time, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Global exports of about 5 million cars last year sparked complaints about the country’s trade policy and accusations of dumping. Just this week, the European Commission announced new taxes. on imports of electric cars. Last month, the U. S. quadrupled taxes on imports of finished electric cars.
Fuyao, through production plants in 11 countries, has tapped into domestic and global demand with an evolving diversity of products including glass roofs, front display glass and coated glass, Chinese brokerage Shenwan Hongyuan said in a study report in April. Vehicle sales increased by 17% between 2020 and 2023, Fuyao’s car glass shipments increased by nearly 36%, indicating a developing market share.
The company’s arrival in the U. S. in 2014 through the acquisition of a closed GM plant in Ohio is chronicled in the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary, “American Factory,” directed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Although union critics have questioned efforts to deter its staff from unionizing, Fuyao has expanded its production network to three more states (Illinois, Michigan and South Carolina) with a total investment of about $1. 5 billion and 3,000 jobs. It is also looking for a new site in the United States, Cho said in the interview, without offering details.
The Chinese company’s general reception in the U. S. contrasts with the controversy surrounding social media platform TikTok and calls for restrictions on Chinese investment in U. S. farmland. “Everything that comes from China is not rejected in the United States,” said Ker Gibbs, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Many other people – most, I would say – need to have a cooperative relationship with China. “
Fuyao Glass “is the same as Wanxiang Auto Parts (a personal company) and dozens of other Chinese corporations coming to the U. S. and creating jobs,” Gibbs said. “As we have also noticed in China, those of (American) corporations are more than welcome” on the continent.
Cho attributed the company’s good fortune in the United States to a corporate culture that is based on elements of Chinese philosophy that encourages harmony between man and the universe. In practice, he noted, this meant negotiating with government regulators the scope of the company’s business “from scratch. “”JobsOhio’s former Asia director, Amy Lei, is now vice president of Fuyao Glass America and a member of the Dayton Business Journal’s “BizWomen Power 50,” helping to lead the company’s business in the United States. Cho said he is proud to earn the Outstanding Manufacturer Award covering his U. S. operations from the International Leadership Foundation last year. “Even though it’s just a piece of paper, I’m thrilled that what I’m doing is accepted and identified by the American people,” he said.
Cho Tak Wong, president of Fuyao Glass.
The 78-year-old businessman, popular in China because of his business leadership and philanthropy, said he has no plans to leave the company anytime soon. “I’ll be 80 soon, but I’m not thinking about retiring yet. “Cho said, adding that retirement depends on “personal circumstances. “
“What am I going to do after I retire? I think I’ll be in poor health if I can’t do anything after I retire,” he said. Shareholders will probably be very happy if it can continue to produce the same effects. as he did after his busy 70 years.
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