Forbes updated its real-time billionaire rankings on Aug. 11, placing King Slide Works chairman Lin Congji at the top of Taiwan’s wealth list. The 85-year-old executive was listed with a fortune of $16.7 billion, or about NT$538.7 billion, moving ahead of Yageo chairman Pierre Chen and Hon Hai founder Terry Gou.
The product behind that rise is not a chip, a display panel or a consumer device. It is the metal rail used inside server racks. The report said those rails, though easy to overlook, became the core of King Slide’s position in the global server supply chain and a major beneficiary of the AI server buildout.
From factory apprentice to hardware founder
Lin was born in Kaohsiung in 1941 and grew up in a poor household, according to the report. He was sent to work as an apprentice in a furniture factory while still in elementary school, where he learned to make drawers. After graduating from elementary school, he did not return to formal education.
He entered the hardware business in 1977, starting with door handles and later moving into hinges. In 1986, at age 45, he founded King Slide Works in Luzhu, Kaohsiung. At the time, the company was a conventional metalworking factory producing handles, hinges and furniture slides.
An emergency order changed the company’s path
The turning point came around 2000. The report said one major customer, accounting for nearly 40% of revenue, demanded a 30% price cut. Lin refused. The company then lost the order, revenue was cut in half, and 40% of employees left, pushing the business close to the edge.
In 2001, Compaq needed a replacement supplier after a design problem hit its original vendor. Lin’s company delivered drawings within a week, passed certification and secured a trial server-rail order worth about $100,000. That order pulled King Slide from furniture hardware into the global server supply chain, and the company’s own King Slide brand took shape from there.
After the earlier order cut, Lin set a rule for the company: focus only on products with high technical barriers and high margins, and do not compete on price alone. The article quoted him as saying, 「A server is so expensive that no one would test it with a strand of hair and fire.」
Why server rails matter more in the AI cycle
The report said one set of rails accounts for less than 1% of the cost of a full AI rack, but the part is essential when engineers install, pull out and service servers. It cited Nvidia’s GB200 rack as an example, saying the full cabinet weighs more than a ton, which leaves no room for error in load-bearing capacity, precision or stability.
King Slide has built a moat with more than 3,700 patents, while also offering customized production in small volumes with fast lead times. According to the report, that combination makes supplier replacement difficult for customers.
Financial performance and share-price rally
The company’s recent results were also highlighted. King Slide posted a gross margin of 87.42% in the second quarter of 2026. First-half net profit after tax reached NT$10.574 billion, up 237% year over year, and earnings per share came in at NT$110.96. Revenue for the first seven months totaled NT$22.687 billion, up 136.58% from a year earlier.
Its stock has climbed sharply as well. Shares moved above NT$10,000 on Aug. 6, making King Slide the third stock in Taiwan market history to cross that mark. During intraday trading on Aug. 11, the stock reached NT$12,000. The report said Lin’s net worth increased by about NT$35.4 billion in a single day at one point.
Expansion plans and product development
Lin has not stepped back after reaching the top of the rich list. The report noted that his earlier experience with customer concentration has shaped how he views risk today. Rail products now account for 97.87% of King Slide’s revenue.
The company is investing about NT$10 billion to expand production in Taiwan. Its Houston plant in the US is expected to begin mass production in September this year, a move the report said is intended to spread geopolitical risk. At the same time, King Slide is developing higher-load products for Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin platform and has also started laying out plans in robot components.
On the management side, Lin’s daughter, Lin Shuzhen, is running operations as general manager. Even at 85, Lin still spends his days thinking through the business and inspecting factories, according to the report.
From an apprentice working in a pile of wood shavings to the person holding the biggest fortune in Taiwan, Lin’s rise has been closely tied to one niche product: server rails that found a central place in the AI hardware supply chain.