Grace Wang

Few executives have a rags-to-riches story as compelling as that of Grace Wang, the cofounder and chairwoman of Chinese electronics maker Luxshare. Faced with financial struggles following her high school graduation, Wang joined Foxconn’s newly opened Shenzhen factory in 1988 as an assembly-line worker. That expertise in precision engineering helped her when she founded Luxshare alongside her brother in 2004. Since then, Luxshare has steadily won over clients like Apple, helping the U.S. consumer electronics giant build its wireless AirPods. Now, Luxshare is among Apple’s top three manufacturers, alongside Foxconn and Pegatron. A year ago, President Donald Trump’s tariffs—and greater global scrutiny of China’s export engine—threatened Wang’s business model of making electronics for global clients. But the company has shrugged off these protectionist threats. Luxshare reported 332 billion Chinese yuan ($38 billion) in revenue last year, a 23% jump. The company is now building a “quad-polar” assembly network across China, Vietnam, Mexico, and Germany, and diversifying to new sectors.