Factory girl turned touchscreen supplier is China's richest

Beijing: Zhou Qunfei, the chairwoman of a Chinese touchscreen glass supplier firm that has clients like Apple and Samsung, has been crowned China's richest woman, with a fortune of nearly USD 8 billion.

Dubbed as the "Queen of Mobile Phone Glass", the 25-year-old has ousted Chan Laiwa, founder of Beijing Red Sandalwood Cultural Foundation, who was previously named China's richest woman with total assets of USD 6.1 billion according to a global billionaire list by Forbes released last month.

Zhaou's firm Lens Technology's share value surged to 78.08 yuan per share yesterday, jumping by the daily limit for 10 straight days since it debuted on the Growth Enterprise Market board in Shenzhen on March 18, with an offering price of 22.99 yuan per share.

This morning, Lens Technology, a major Apple Inc supplier, saw its share value surge by the daily limit for the 11th day at 85. 89 yuan per share, extending the glory of the country's richest woman, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Lens Technology makes glass covers for various consumer electronic products such as smartphones,computers and cameras. Its sales revenue to Apple and Samsung reached nine billion yuan in 2014, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the company's total revenue.

Zhou's life is a classic rags to riches story. Born in 1970 in a small village in central China's Hunan Province, she started working as a factory girl making glass for watches in China's southern city of Shenzhen.

In 2003, she founded her own company. Headquartered in her hometown Hunan, the company has now grown to include 10 subsidiary companies with locations all over China, and employs 60,000 people.

She once told the press that she contributed her success to "hard work" and "persistence".

Despite of the company's good performance in the stock market, analysts have also expressed some concern on the company's ability to sustain profitability.

After posting a net profit of 2 billion yuan in 2012, Lens technology saw net profit drop to 1.17 billion yuan in 2014.

Lens Technology is highly reliant on major clients such as Apple and Samsung. Between 2012 and 2014, the combined sales to the two industry giants took up more than 70 per cent of the company's entire sales revenue.

Nevertheless, the company has announced recently that it provides glass for Apple's newly launched Apple Watch.