In a major announcement, Asustek Computer Inc. has revealed today that CEO Jerry Shen will leave his position by the end of this month. Shen, who has been at the helm of Asus for more than ten years, will vacate the position for SY Hsu and Samson Hu who will act as co-CEOs moving forward in 2019. The Asustek CEO will then be directing his experience towards a new venture in the AI and IoT segment reported DigiTimes. Asus will be a key partner in the new company with 30 percent stake in Shen’s new venture.
Following the announcement, Asustek chairman Jonney Shih has praised the departing CEO as “the best CEO in the world”. Jerry Shen has had an engineering background from which he rose to the position of CEO and always held close ties with media.
The board of directors at Asus have agreed to the co-CEO management model as they believe SY Hsu and Samson Hu will work together effectively. With the new changes, Asus will also be shifting its smartphone strategy in the coming year. The report said that Asus will focus more on gamers and power users.
Asus has been lagging in the AI and IoT (Internet of Things) department so far, and the new move seems to be a step to improve in that direction. With many big corporations investing heavily in AI, Asus will spend a maximum of NT$10 billion on developing its own AIoT business. The fund will be aimed at strategic investments and mergers/acquisitions and reach a position of leadership in three years.
