This self-made S’porean millionaire earned $ 2.10 million with his central chips – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

He is from Singapore and learned the subject of engineering hobbies, worked in the sector and eventually built his own engineering startup.

This 46-year-old man is just Teo Swee Ann, CEO and President of Espressif Systems.

The self-made billionaire has the skill to make technology and devices, and has created a strong ecosystem for the Internet of Things (IoT) space, thanks to its small semiconductor chips that are as small as a five-cent coin.

This year, Forbes also entered Singapore’s 50 richest with a net worth of $ 1.55 trillion ($ 2.1 billion) in support of its company’s share price promotion as a result of pandemic-driven chip demand.

This “normal” self-made Singaporean is now one of the richest people in the country, and his net worth is very well with Liens (a minority stake in United Overseas Bank) family and owners of large OG outlets. Tays.

How did this Singapore average rise to millionaire status? We’ll take a look at his career.

Just a boy who went to village schools

By the time Swee Ann was eight, she was already working with technology. He “scratched” the inner workings of his Apple II computer.

The Primary School child began to study the code written for the programs on his computer and tried to figure out how it worked.

Like bees, he was attracted to the world of technology and was fascinated by engineering and biology. His young version knew he wanted to be an engineer when he grew up.

He eventually went on to study at Hwa Chong Junior College from 1992 to 1993 before graduating from the National University of Singapore to pursue a degree in electrical engineering.

Swee Ann earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering and graduated in 2000.

The entrepreneur, who previously joined British Telecoms, worked with Bluetooth chip maker Transilica Inc. in March 2000 as his first full-time job as an RFIC Design Engineer.

A year later, Marvell moved to the U.S. company Semiconductor to work as a Senior Design Engineer for three years.

In 2004, he changed jobs and moved to Chinese semiconductor company Montage Technology as an Engineering Director, where he worked for just over three years.

By then, Swee Ann was getting bored of building the chips, trying to challenge herself to make the chips in a smarter way. He wanted to automate the chip-making process, which sparked the idea of ​​creating Espressif.

The first movement of the IoT trend: Espressif

In April 2008, Swee Ann founded Espressif Systems. He started designing software for analog circuits, which at one time was also a chip consultancy, until Swee Ann decided to make her own chips.

At that point, Swee Ann realized that computing power was increasing, and that by increasing power more processes could be run on the chips. The entrepreneur decided to jump into the IoT trend, which was an interesting topic for some in the tech community.

The famous ESP8266 microchip was the fruit of his work. It was developed in 2011 and moved into production in 2013.

Low-cost Wi-Fi chips attracted the attention of manufacturers around the world, including the U.S., and commercial customers began contacting Swee Ann to place orders.

Today, its small ESP8266 has gained the following followers of tech enthusiasts. Measuring just a few millimeters, the Wi-Fi chip has also created products like smart devices (temperature and air humidity sensors) and complex wireless web servers and robots for its creators.

Swee Ann also made her fortune in China and around the world, and then sold the company’s flagship ESP32 chips, which now power goods such as speakers, portable devices and appliances.

Since 2017, the brand has placed number one in the Wi-Fi MCU market and entered the list. Forbes’ 20 IoT rankings as well as one of the most innovative companies. Wi-Fi MCU is also ranked first in the market three years in a row.

In addition to being a chip maker, Espressif also builds software that supports the development of IoT applications.

IPO, achieving millionaire status

Espressif was listed on the public market in July 2019 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Sci-Tech Innovation Board, commonly known as the STAR board.

It debuted at a share price of 155.95 yuan (S $ 33.16) and rose 283.00 yuan (S $ 60.17) in seven months to February 2020, driven by chip demand and pandemics in the growing IoT world. Accompanied by internet booms.

Since then, shares have fallen $ 186.50 yuan ($ 39.65) (as of November 17), but its market capital remains in the $ 1 billion range at $ 14.94 billion yuan ($ 3.18 billion), Swee Keeping Ann Forbes at 50 in Singapore. the richest list.

The rise in shares has shifted Swee Ann’s net worth from $ 990 million in August last year to $ 1.55 billion in the same month this year.

Even with the latest boom, the owner of the semiconductor company is not resting on his laurels.

Last year, Espressif told shareholders it plans to launch four chips with better performance and lower power consumption. “We have built the most complete ecosystem for IoT developers,” he said.

Hiring and expanding the team, growth plans

Today, Espressif has tens of thousands of customers worldwide. Manufacturers of everyday electronics, such as coffee machines and light bulbs, as well as providers of smart cities and automation solutions.

The company is headquartered in Shanghai (China) and is proven to have more than one 200 staff on LinkedIn. It also has offices in India, Brazil, the Czech Republic and Singapore.

According to Linkedin data, most of the employees are working in China and India, and a small group is headquartered in Singapore.

After working abroad for more than 14 years, it seems that Swee Ann is returning home to build her business skills here.

Singapore is currently consolidating its presence and plans to hire 80 engineers this year and next for a research and development center.

Espressif is actively hiring with 30 job offers, including jobs in Singapore, such as a technical marketing manager and a senior design engineer.

It looks like we’ll see more Swee Ann in the country.

Featured Image Credit: Espressif, Embeddedasia