This edition marks a milestone. Twenty years ago this month, the first Forbes Asia magazine rolled off a Singapore press. It was a timely bet on a region far removed from Forbes’ American homestead but one with a rising story that was fast unfolding. Six years earlier, in a prescient move, William Adamopoulos, Forbes Media Asia CEO, had established Forbes’ regional headquarters in the city-state, which has since become a magnet for some of the world’s wealthiest people.
Over two decades, in our extensive coverage of entrepreneurial capitalism across the region, we’ve closely tracked these wealth creators—from titans of legacy businesses to the innovators behind fleet-footed startups. An astounding factoid: our 2006 World’s Billionaires List had 115 Asians worth $364 billion, a number that’s since soared to 1,046 billionaires with a collective net worth of $4.2 trillion. Our 20th anniversary retrospective, compiled by contributing editor Mary Scott, highlights many of these notable game-changers featured on our cover pages.
In a happy coincidence, in 2005, our debut year, Min-Liang Tan, the protagonist of this issue’s cover story, set up gaming devices company Razer after giving up a career in law. Over a 20-year arc, he built it into a global name in gaming hardware with bestsellers such as the BlackShark headset and BlackWidow keyboard. Tan, whose sartorial preference is a black T-shirt, recently shared his new game plan with senior editor John Kang—pivoting to make his company an AI gaming software champ.
Razer’s chairman and CEO is a member of the elite billionaires club whose members appear on our annual list of Singapore’s 50 richest, collated by a team led by wealth editor Jane Ho. Collectively their net worth soared 23% to a record level of $239 billion, in a year when the nation is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
These pages feature another blockbuster in our 100 To Watch list of notable small companies and startups on the rise in Asia-Pacific. A months-long team effort led by editorial director Rana Wehbe Watson, this compendium is now in its fifth year and bears evidence that Asian entrepreneurial energy remains in high gear. An accompanying story spotlights list alumnus, Galaxea AI, a Chinese humanoid-robot maker that’s aspiring to best homegrown rivals and take on Tesla’s Optimus.
Entrepreneurs in this part of the world continue to seek inroads into global markets. One such trailblazer is Thai beverage magnate Pongsakorn Pongsak, whose IF branded coconut water has made a big splash in China. After successfully listing his company this June on the Hong Kong stock exchange, he disclosed to our Hong Kong reporter Zinnia Lee, that he’s now eyeing American grocery shelves, an ambition that faces a challenge from the 19% U.S. tariff on Thai exports.
From his perch in Silicon Valley, our futurist and longtime columnist Rich Karlgaard has been observing what he calls the stunning ascent of Asian tech over 20 years. He outlines the five most impactful trends in his column. Leaving one’s teens is a landmark that deserves a celebratory toast: Here’s to you, our readers, who’ve supported us on this odyssey! As always, comments welcome at executiveeditor@forbesasia.com.