The Tu and Sun families are the founding families behind Kingston Technology, the world’s largest independent manufacturer of digital storage and memory products. Headquartered in California, USA, David Sun and John Tu started the business in 1987.
Engineer John Tu was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. He immigrated to the US in 1971, and after stints in retail and real estate, he partnered with David Sun, another Chinese immigrant, to start a computer hardware company.
The company they founded in 1982, Camintonn Corporation, was later sold to AST Research in 1986. One year later, during the stock market crash of 1987, the two men lost nearly their entire savings and started Kingston Technology in response, named after the popular band, the Kingston Trio.
By 1996, Kingston had over 500 US employees and a valuation of $1.5 billion. That same year, they sold 80 per cent of the company to Softbank Corporation and gave the proceeds to their employees as bonuses, establishing their reputation for generosity. Softbank would subsequently sell their shares back to Kingston in 1999.
David Sun and his wife run a charitable foundation that provides education grants to programs for youth in the US and Taiwan. David Sun and John Tu’s net worth is estimated at $4.8 billion each.
