Tan Hock Eng (; born in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

) is a

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian po ...

business executive and philanthropist. He is the CEO of

Broadcom Inc. Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...

He was the highest earning CEO in the US in 2017, earning US$103.2 million that year.

Early life

Tan was born in

, Malaysia, in . He received a scholarship to attend the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in 1971. In 1975, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

and earned a master's degree in the same subject later in the year. Tan also attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to earn an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

a few years later.

Career

He was managing director of Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988 before helming Pacven Investment from 1988 to 1992. He then held financial positions at General Motors Co and

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

Inc before becoming the Vice President of Finance of Commodore International Ltd. Tan went on to become the CEO of Integrated Circuit Systems Inc. When this was sold to Integrated Device Technology Inc, he became the latter company's chairman.

Avago Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...

was created following a US$2.66 billion buyout of Integrated Circuit Systems in 2005. Tan was hired to lead the company as chief executive. In 2015, Tan merged the company with

Broadcom Corporation Broadcom Corporation is an American fabless semiconductor company that makes products for the wireless and broadband communication industry. It was acquired by Avago Technologies in 2016 and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the merged ...

following an acquisition, leading to the creation of

Broadcom Inc Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...

which he currently runs. In November 2017 Broadcom announced that it had completed its move from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

back to the United States in a move which Tan claimed at the time would yield $20 billion yearly in revenue for the US Treasury. In April 2020 Tan drew criticism when it was announced that he was forcing employees of Broadcom to return to work for 1 week a month during the COVID-19 outbreak. In September 2020, Tan stated that all Broadcom employees were working in the office in Asia excluding India, and 50% in North America.

Personal life

Tan married K. Lisa Yang. Born in

, Yang graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. After the family moved to the U.S., Yang worked as an investment banker on

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

until retiring. The couple's three children spent their early years in Singapore. The family moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

after their son Douglas was diagnosed with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

by a pediatric

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

at the

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a children's hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its primary campus located in the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia in the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The h ...

who suggested the boy would receive a better education in the U.S. Douglas attended the Timothy School in Philadelphia, and now lives in a Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

group home A group home, congregate living facility, or care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English) is a residence model of medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children ...

. Even their daughter Eva has milder autism. Yang helped Eva with her "poor auditory processing skills" when she started taking classes at

Harcum College Harcum College is a private associate degree-granting college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1915 and was the first college in Pennsylvania authorized to grant associate degrees. History Edith Hatcher, daughter of prominent Vir ...

. Eva was later hired by

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

under their Autism at Work program. The couple's other son does not have autism. He works as an investment banker in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Philanthropy

Tan and his wife donate money to their alma maters and autism charities. In 2015, Tan honored former MIT professor Nam P. Suh by donating $4 million to the school to

endow A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

a mechanical engineering professorship. The same year, the couple donated $10 million to Cornell University to fund the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Employment and Disability Institute. The couple donated $20 million to MIT in 2017 to fund research to find effective treatments for autism and find its causes. Their donation created the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research. In 2019, the couple donated $20 million to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

to create the Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research, a sister of the MIT center. Yang donated $2 million in 2020 to Neurodiversity in the Workplace, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that helps employers find talented people with autism. The couple donated $28 million in 2020 to MIT to create the Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Hock Eng Malaysian people of Chinese descent Living people People from Penang 1952 births American people of Chinese descent MIT School of Engineering alumni Harvard Business School alumni Broadcom