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Foxconn founder Terry Gou said the US stock market would crash in 10 seconds if war were to break out over Taiwan.
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He said Taiwan’s role in the global economy is far more important than that of Ukraine.
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China claims self-ruled Taiwan — the world’s top chip supplier — as its territory.
The founder of a key Apple supplier warned of disaster on Wall Street should a war break out over Taiwan.
“If a war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, it wouldn’t take a month or even an hour, but just 10 seconds for the Wall Street stock market to collapse,” Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, according to an Insider translation. His post appears to have been deleted by Thursday morning, although a cached copy of the post remains.
Gou, the 72-year-old founder of the contract manufacturing giant Foxconn, wrote the post after meeting New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on the same day.
He said he told Friedman that Taiwan’s role in the global economy is far more important than that of Ukraine, which is now embroiled in a war with Russia. China claims self-ruled Taiwan — the world’s top chip supplier — as its territory and has been ramping up military drills around the island.
Gou added Taiwan may be able to hold out in a war for three months, but the impact on the world’s economy and financial markets would be huge and immediate.
Gou founded Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, in 1974. He is worth nearly $7.2 billion, with a substantial portion of his wealth derived from a 12.6{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} stake in the publicly traded division of Foxconn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The tycoon’s comments about geopolitical tensions over the Taiwan Strait come amid speculation over his political ambitions.
The business magnate stepped down as Foxconn’s chairman in 2019 in a bid to run for Taiwan’s presidency, but dropped out of the race after he failed to win the nomination of KMT, Taiwan’s main opposition party. He tried again this year, but again failed to win the party’s nomination.
Some analysts think Gou may still make a run for the island’s top job, the South China Morning Post reported on July 18.
Gou did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent to his verified Instagram account.
The Taiwan presidential election is scheduled to take place on January 13, 2024.
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