Prime Highlights
- Foxconn’s Kathy Yang earns a spot on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Asia 2026 list for the second year in a row.
- Yang says future factories will succeed by combining human workers, AI and robots.
Key Facts
- Technology supplies 16 honorees, the most of any sector, ahead of banking with 14.
- Yang oversees more than 240 Foxconn sites across 24 countries.
Background
Fortune has named Kathy Yang of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) to its Most Powerful Women Asia 2026 list, her second straight year on the ranking.
Yang manages Foxconn’s global campus operations and heads its AI software and infrastructure units. The company makes more electronics than any other firm and also supplies AI servers. Her remit covers more than 240 sites across 24 countries.
She is one of 16 honorees from technology, the most represented sector this year. Banking follows with 14. Charmian Choo, Fortune’s Asia list Senior Manager, said technology’s rise reflects its growing pull on Asia’s economy and the women now leading that change. She also noted that established leaders share the list with a new generation moving up.
Yang said women leaders have a part to play in the AI industrial revolution. She said the hard task is not installing technology but redesigning work and retraining staff so people can grow with it. She predicted that in five years, the best factories will be those where humans, AI and robots improve one another, not simply the most automated ones.
Earlier this year, Fortune also named Yang to its Most Powerful Women in Business 2026 list.
Yang has also broken new ground at the company. As Foxconn’s Rotating CEO, the first woman in that role, she worked on tighter execution and stronger governance. She now sits on the board of Foxconn Industrial Internet (FII) and serves as Chairwoman and CEO of JUSDA, both key Foxconn units.
