Billionaire Chu Jenn Weng's Vitrox Corp achieves record sales and profit FYE 2021 because of demand for 5G devices

September 03, 2022

IT STARTED WITH A DREAM TO CREATE THE IMPOSSIBLE...

The love of photography and electronics was what drove engineer CHU JENN WENG to start Vitrox Corporation in 2000 with SIAW KOK TONG,  a university mate and later a colleague at Hewlett Packard. Chu was inspired by the founders of HP who started their business from a garage and turned HP into a global company. Vitrox began in a small rented place with 10 employees with a grand vision to succeed. It launched its first 3D vision inspection system for semiconductor components in 2004 and raced on to become what it is today - a global industry leader in machine vision technology. ViTrox was featured in Forbes Asia's list of Best Under a Billion companies in 2019. It previously appeared on the list in 2011, 2015 and 2018. In November 2021 ViTrox received the Global Technology Award 2021 in the category of Inspection Equipment - Robotic Handling System at the award ceremony in Productronica 2021 in Munich, Germany.

Vitrox celebrated its 20th Anniversary in FY 2020 with 20 years of track record of profitability and the highest revenue achieved of RM470.4 million since its inception. Its pre-tax profit was RM110.3 million. For FYE 31 December 2021 ViTrox achieved another record-breaking year of financial performance, with revenue of RM680.1 million, profit before tax of RM178.2 million and profit after tax of RM169.4 million, representing respectively a 44.6%, 61.5% and 60.4% growth versus FYE 2020.  The increase was a result of high demand of 5G and IT infrastructure after the outbreak of COVID-19. ViTrox continues to expand its core business in the semiconductor back-end and the electronics assemblies sector through its  4 business units - Machine Vision System - Standard (“MVS-S”), Machine Vision System - Tray (“MVS-T”), Automated Board Inspection (“ABI”) and Electronics Communication System (“ECS”).

In May 2021, ViTrox announced the acquisition of approximately 21.04 acres of land in Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang for RM48.3 million as part of itsten (10)-year expansion master plan  (2020-2030). 

Chu Jenn Weng, Managing Director / President / CEO of Vitrox Corporation (52), holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Electronics
Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia ("USM") and a Master of Science in Image Processing from the same university. Forbes rated Chu as having a net worth of US$430 million as of 8 June 2022. 

Siaw Kok Tong (51) who is Executive Director/EVP of Vitrox, holds a Bachelor's Degree (First Class Honours) in Computer Science. A third USM colleague,  YEOH SHIH HOONG (50), also Executive Director/EVP holds a Bachelor's Degree (First Class Honours) in Computer Science, USM.

All three are Substantial Shareholders of Vitrox. As at 31 March 2022, Chu Jenn Weng holds 26.89%, Siaw Kok Tong 19.05% and Yeoh Shih Hoong 9.39%.  They are Malaysia's bright stars in the world of machine vision technology. 

REFERENCES

  1. Vitrox Corporation Berhad. 2021 Annual Report. https://www.vitrox.com/pdf/investor/annual-report/vitrox_ar2021.pdf
  2. The Star. 10 May 2021. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/05/10/vitrox-expects-strong-demand-to-continue-into-2022
  3. i3investor. MDEC Interview with Vitrox Corporation. 2 June 2017. gorenggoreng88. https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/Vitrox/124562
  4. Forbes. Malaysia's 50 richest. https://www.forbes.com/profile/chu-jenn-weng/?sh=66239a754281
  5. The Edge. 29 July 2021. Liew Jia Teng. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-cofounders-reflect-building-industry-leader
  6. Vitrox. It started with a Dream to create the Impossible. https://vitrox.com/careers-jobs/mr-chu-story-turning-inspiration-actions.php