Stan Shih

Stan Shih was born on December 18, 1944, in Lukang, Changhua County, Taiwan, which was under Japanese rule at the time. His father died when he was three years old, and he was primarily raised by his mother, Chen Hsiu-Lien. To support the family, Chen ran a small business selling stationery items, duck eggs, lottery tickets, and incense candles, with Shih assisting from a young age.

As a child, Shih was reserved and introverted. Initially, he showed a stronger interest in the liberal arts but did not excel academically. However, his focus shifted after he won first place in a science and mathematics competition during high school, which encouraged him to pursue those subjects more seriously. He graduated from high school in 1962 and later enrolled at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), where he studied electronic engineering at the Electronic Engineering Research Institute.

During his time at NCTU, Shih became more outgoing and actively participated in campus activities. Despite opportunities to study abroad, he chose to remain in Taiwan to stay close to his mother, eventually obtaining a bachelor’s and master's degree in 1971.

Stan Shih married Carolyn Yeh (Yeh Chi Hua) on Teacher's Day, September 28, 1971. Stan and Carolyn met though a mutual classmate during Shih's junior year of college. The two went on to have three children together: two sons and a younger daughter, though Shih fondly refers to Acer as their fourth child. Shih's oldest son Maverick Shih took on his mother's job in 2015 and is currently president of Acer's Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC) and Cloud Computing division.