Nokia branded phones. HMD buys the R&D, manufacturing and distribution from FIH Ltd, which is part of Hon Hai group. Gou drew controversy when he made comments during a board meeting about employees that were poorly translated into English as "Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache." Through Foxconn, Gou would protest that the translation was poor and took his comments out of context. Gou argued that Apple should move its manufacturing out of China to Taiwan. The comments came after he confirmed he will step down from his role as Foxconn chairman. Later career In April 2021, Gou became the biggest shareholder in the biotech company Eirgenix. Political stances Gou first joined the Kuomintang in 1970, but allowed his membership to lapse after 2000. In the 2012 Taiwan presidential election, Gou endorsed Ma Ying-jeou, stating that Ma was an "experienced, outstanding helmsman." After Donald Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election, Gou was the subject of a spoof open letter in Bloomberg, in which author Tim Culpan was severely critical of Trump. The article was mistakenly reported as having been written by Gou himself. Political career From 2016, it was widely reported that Gou was considering a 2020 Taiwanese presidential bid, and speculation continued into 2017. He rejoined the Kuomintang in April 2019. On 17 April 2019, Gou announced his intention to run in the Kuomintang primary for the 2020 presidential election. Gou declared that he had been instructed by the sea goddess Mazu in a dream to run as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election of the Republic of China. He finished second in the 2019 Kuomintang presidential primary, with 27.7% of the vote. On 12 September 2019, Gou announced his withdrawal from the Kuomintang. Four days later, Gou stated that he would not participate in the 2020 presidential election as an independent candidate. Gou was offered the top position on the Taiwan People's Party party list for the 2020 legislative election, but declined such a bid. Personal life Gou and his first wife, Serena Lin (; 1950–2005), have a son who works in the film and real estate industries and a daughter who worked in the financial sector. Gou founded an educational charity with Lin in 2000 and intended to eventually give away one third of