KUALA LUMPUR: The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta, announced the appointment of new board members, one of whom is Malaysian-born Tan Hock Eng, the chief executive officer of Broadcom Inc.
Tan previously served at several major companies in the United States including General Motors, and PepsiCo.
His expertise in the semiconductor arena is expected to aid Meta, which is currently investing heavily in artificial intelligence and GenAI development.
Born and raised in Penang, Tan completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
A year later, he earned a master's degree in the same subject from MIT.
He then obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and returned to Malaysia, where he managed Hume Industries from 1983 to 1988 before moving to Singapore as managing director of Pacven Investment, a venture capital firm.
In 1992, he returned to the US as vice president of finance for computer manufacturer Commodore International before transitioning to roles as senior financial executive at PepsiCo and senior executive at General Motors.
He also served as president and chief executive officer of Integrated Circuit Systems from June 1999 to September 2005, before serving as chairman of Integrated Device Technology from September 2005 to January 2008.
He has also obtained US citizenship.
In 2017, Tan was named the highest-paid chief executive officer in the US, earning US$103.2 million (RM493.35 million) that year.
