Universal Cement Corporation

Universal Cement Corporation is a Taiwanese cement and building materials company founded in 1960 under the leadership of Tainan Gang founder Hou Yu-li Hou Yu-liHou Yu-li was a Taiwanese entrepreneur and a founding figure of the Tainan Gang. Born in Beimen, Tainan, he started as a cloth-shop apprentice, founded the Hsin Fu Hsing cloth business and went on to help found Tainan Spinning and Universal Cement, backing figures such as Wu Hsiu-chi and Kao Ching-yuan; Tainan Gang companies include Uni-President and Prince Housing. He was paired with Wang Yung-ching as “Wang in the north, Hou in the south.”Open the full entry and listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange since 1971 (code 1104). It makes cement, ready-mixed concrete and gypsum board, and its subsidiary Uneo works on pressure-sensing technology. Its chairman is Hou Bo-yi Hou Bo-yiHou Bo-yi is a Taiwanese businessman, chairman of Universal Cement Corporation and the eldest grandson of Tainan Gang founder Hou Yu-li. He took control of the company’s management in 2008, serving as both chairman and president, and brought his sons Hou Chih-sheng and Hou Chih-yuan into the business. His wife, Su Chin-chien, is a cousin of Jensen Huang.Open the full entry and its president is Hou Chih-yuan Hou Chih-yuanHou Chih-yuan (Jack Chih-Yuan Hou) is a Taiwanese businessman and the president of Universal Cement Corporation, a fourth-generation member of the Tainan Gang’s Hou family and the younger son of Hou Bo-yi. A week after finishing a master’s degree in East Asian studies at Harvard University in 2008, he joined Universal Cement at 24 as a vice president in charge of sales, later becoming chief operating officer and then president.Open the full entry.

Contents6 sections

Key facts

1959–1960The Tainan Gang Founds a Cement Company

Business Today writes that in 1959 the Tainan Gang had planned to set up a galvanized steel pipe plant, but Hou Yu-li insisted on going into cement; Universal Cement was founded in 1960 with capital of NT$100 million, of which the Hou Yu-li family put up NT$50.5 million. The company’s registration gives its date of incorporation as March 21, 1960.⁠[1][2]

Universal Cement’s shares were listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on February 1, 1971, under the code 1104, in the cement industry category. Its registered main business is making and selling cement and ready-mixed concrete and producing, processing and selling gypsum board.⁠[2]

2008Hou Bo-yi Takes Control of Management

Business Today wrote in 2013 that Hou Bo-yi, the eldest grandson of Hou Yu-li, watching Taiwan Cement and Asia Cement grow while Universal Cement stayed small, took control of its management in 2008, serving as both chairman and president, and brought in his elder son, Hou Chih-sheng Hou Chih-shengHou Chih-sheng (Johnson Hou) is a Taiwanese engineer and businessman with a PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is vice chairman and chief executive of Universal Cement Corporation and president of its subsidiary Uneo, a fourth-generation member of the Tainan Gang’s Hou family and the elder son of Hou Bo-yi. His LinkedIn profile lists him as chief executive officer of the pressure-sensing company Tekscan since November 2025.Open the full entry, from the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and his younger son, Hou Chih-yuan, just graduated from Harvard University Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry; the company then restructured its staff, disposed of its plants in mainland China and grew through its gypsum board business.⁠[3]

From 2010Flexible Electronics and Uneo

In 2010 the Industrial Technology Research Institute transferred to Universal Cement the flexible electronic pressure-sensor technology that Hou Chih-sheng had helped develop; the company set up an internal electronics division and later spun it off as the subsidiary Uneo. Business Today wrote in 2013 that Uneo’s Chinese name takes one character each from the names of Hou Yu-li and Hou Yung-tu, and that its customers included Sharp, Dell and ASUS.⁠[3]

2026Management and Business Direction

Company registration records list Hou Bo-yi as chairman, Hou Chih-sheng as vice chairman and Hou Chih-yuan as director and president, all three representing Bozhi Investment Co.; the board also has four independent directors.⁠[2]

In a June 2026 Business Today podcast, Hou Chih-yuan said that after leaving mainland China Universal Cement had pursued vertical integration in Taiwan, adding ready-mixed concrete sites in southern Taiwan, importing raw materials from multiple sources, restructuring the gypsum board division and bringing in AI and automation equipment; he described it as a stock for long-term shareholders, with earnings per share steady at about NT$2 in recent years.⁠[4]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Universal Cement Corporation: Official website: http://www.ucctw.com/ (opens in a new window) (as listed in its company registration).⁠[2]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCCTW/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

YouTube YouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQJBZ2In2f7QHjlWseNfCMA/videos (opens in a new window).⁠[6]