Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. named Young Liu its new chairman to replace founder Terry Gou, effective on July 1, 2019. Young Liu was the semiconductor division chief as well as the vice chairman of Foxconn. Analysts said the handover signals the company's future direction, underscoring the importance of semiconductors, together with technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous driving, after Foxconn's traditional major business of smartphone assembly has matured. One of the key directions of Foxconn is to focus its strength on semiconductors. It has invested hundreds of millions of yuan in Zhuhai, Guangdong province and Jinan in Shandong province to build chip factories since 2018, which Liu mainly promoted. He also served as chairman of the company's chip unit in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.