Samuel Yin

Yin was born to waishengren parents from Rizhao, Shandong, China. His father, Yin Shutian, founded Ruentex Textiles and was known in Taiwan as 'the king of denim'.

As a teenager, Yin spent one and a half years in a reformatory prior to his father sending him to attend Jinde High School in Changhua, a school for trouble youth. His mathematics teacher there was Wang Jin-pyng.

Yin graduated from Chinese Culture University with a bachelor's degree in history, then earned an M.B.A. from National Taiwan University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in business administration from National Chengchi University in 1988. His doctoral dissertation, completed under professor Dah-Hsian Seetoo, was titled, "A study on the impact of organizational change strategies on organizational commitment" (Chinese: 組織變革策略對組織承諾之影響研究).

Yin was the head of the Ruentex Financial Group which invests in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. Ruentex is most known for their construction investments as well as grocery, retail chain RT Mart.

In Taiwan and the PRC, he was recognized as a promoter of entrepreneurship and startups. In 2014, Yin was named as one of the key investors in Gogoro, an electric scooter startup in Taiwan.

In 2017, he sold a controlling stake in RT Mart China's parent company Sun Art Retail to Alibaba Group to focus on philanthropism.

In 2024, Yin invested USD 50 million Taiwanese EV company Gogoro.

Yin was married to Wang Chi-fan (王绮帆) and had one son and one daughter. His son, Yin Chung-yao is the chairman of Nan Shan Life Insurance and a director of various family companies including Ruentex Development and Gogoro.

He was an experienced offshore sailor and commissioned the construction of two yachts, Sea Eagle and Sea Eagle II, the latter being the world's largest aluminium sailing yacht.

Yin died at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on 26 May 2026, at the age of 75.

Yin stated that he planned to donate 95% of his net wealth to charity, especially those relating to science, arts, law, and politics.

He established the Tang Prize in December 2012, funded by US$100 million of his own capital. The prize is touted as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The mission of the prize is to promote research that is beneficial to the world and humankind, promote Chinese culture and make the world a better place. The prize pays out the equivalent of US$1.7 million in categories of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology, and rule of law.

Yin also provided financial and leadership support for the following foundations in Taiwan and the PRC; the Yin Xun-Ruo Educational Foundation, the Yin Shu-Tien Medical Foundation, the Kwang-Hua Education Foundation, and the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University. In 2016, Yin donated US$12.8 million to the Scripps Research Institute to "contribute to the building of new state-of-the-art laboratories".

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Yin donated to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital to establish new laboratories, intensive care units and to acquire medical equipment. He also provided a donation for Vietnamese new anchor Lê Vân Đài Trang to give a partial liver transplant to her child at the same hospital.