Terry Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Technology Group, commonly known as Foxconn, had stepped down as a director of the company due to "personal reasons," announced the Group in a statement on Sep. 2, 2023.

This announcement came five days after Gou declared in a Facebook post that he would be standing for the Taiwanese presidency in the upcoming election, which is slated to be held on Jan. 13, 2024.

However, Gou's campaign team declined to comment in response to queries from Reuters.

Group thanked Gou for his 49-year service

In the statement, the Group thanked Gou for his "nearly half-a-century of contribution to the Group, as well as the global electronics industry."

Gou founded Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, which is Foxconn's formal name, 49 years ago.

Under his leadership, the Group "deepened Research and Development, innovated business models, and became the world's largest electronics manufacturing services company," the statement read.

In 2019, Gou officially handed over leadership of the Group to a professional manager.

Since then, the company has continued to grow and thrive, and its revenue exceeded 6 trillion New Taiwan dollars in 2022, said the Group.

All eyes on Taiwan's presidential election 2024

The stakes in the upcoming Taiwanese presidential election are high as it will be held against the backdrop of surging tensions between mainland China and Taiwan.

With Gou's entry, the election will become a four-corner race amongst the island's incumbent vice president William Lai Ching-te, Taiwan People's Party's Ko Wen-je, and Kuomintang's Hou Yu-ih.

Like the incumbent Taiwanese President, Tsai Ing-wen, Lai belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and is known for being more vocal about Taiwan's independence than Tsai.

A number of political analysts told BBC News that Gou's entry would only split the anti-DPP votes further, thereby making it even easier for Lai to be elected.

While Gou had been trying to unify the opposition parties against the DPP over the past week, no agreement had been reached thus far, reported Reuters.

Top images via Google Maps & 郭台銘/Facebook