Barry Lam was born in 1949 in Shanghai and grew up in Hong Kong.

He graduated in Electrical Engineering and studied at National Taiwan University. In 1973, following his studies, he decided, with a group of classmates, to found Kinpo Electronics, a manufacturer of pocket calculators. Lam was named president, and run the company to the top. Quanta became one of largest calculator suppliers in the region. 15 years later, Taiwan is booming in technology. Lam decided to create another company, Quanta Computer, specialized in laptop production and other components, in particular for other manufacturers.

The entrepreneur started with $900,000 in capital.

However, lack of resources forces him to start his activity in a small apartment located in a former industrial district of Taipei. In 1989, Quanta opened its first production plant in Linkou, a suburb of Taipei, and following year launched first laptop computer. In the 90s, the company developed considerably, especially abroad. In 1991, an after-sales service office was set up in California, then in Germany in 1994. 1995 was crucial for Quanta. An agreement with Apple is concluded for products co-development, goal being the transfer of expertise from Quanta to Apple Computer. Thanks to this success, a lasting partnership has been established. Lam did not stop there with the signing of another important agreement with Dell Corporation in 1996.

1998 was marked by company IPO.

Over the years, the list of customers has grown, now including large companies such as: Dell, Apple, Lenovo or Microsoft. Quanta is one of the top manufacturers of Apple watch and MacBook. Quanta has high-efficiency production sites primarily in Taiwan, China and Thailand. In addition, to optimize production efficiency with centralized management and timely distribution, Lam decided to establish maintenance sites in Taiwan, the United States and Europe, with each site developing the automation and artificial intelligence. In 2002, production moved to China, where Quanta hopes to achieve a 10% reduction in costs. The plans called for an investment of $18M in factory improvements. Lam aimed to expand company’s sales and reached, two years later, $10 billion in sales thanks to its activities in China and in Taiwan. To achieve his goal, Lam quickly understood that innovation and R&D capabilities were Quanta’s main competitive strengths, especially with the « New 3C »: importance for cloud computing, connectivity technology and « devices customers » which are company’s development foundations.

« Being rooted in Taiwan with a broad vision and aggressive expansion into the global market » is Quanta’s strategy for long-term growth.

Currently, 70,000 employees work for Quanta worldwide, and company has expanded into networking systems, mobile communication and automotive electronics. Much of Quanta’s business is assembly for other manufacturers. Very active in R&D, Quanta aims to develop an ecosystem for tools related to artificial intelligence. The main research topics are cloud computing, AI applications, 5G telecommunications, smart home applications, smart mobility and smart manufacturing. Besides being a businessman, Lam is one of the biggest arts lover in Taiwan with a personal collection that reaches 1000 piece of art. Art and Quanta are what he loves the most. This is why he decided to associate them by creating, in 2009, Quanta foundation, which aims to promote culture, art and education in Taiwan with actions such as free exhibitions for schools. Today, Barry Lam still lives in Taipei with his wife and two children. Highly recognized in Taiwan, he has won numerous awards for his leadership career.