# John Tu

_American billionaire_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/john-tu
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> John Tu (Chinese: 杜紀川; pinyin: Dù Jìchuān; born August 12, 1941) is a Taiwanese-American billionaire business executive and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the digital storage corporation  Kingston Technology, which he established with David Sun in 1987.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 1940 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Chongqing ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339#P19))
- **Citizenship:** United States ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339#P27))
- **Occupation:** engineer ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339#P106))
- **Education:** Technical University of Darmstadt ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339#P69))

## About

Born in Chongqing, China, Tu was raised in Taiwan, studied electrical engineering in West Germany, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1971. He co-founded the computer memory company Camintonn with Sun in 1982, selling it to AST Research for $6 million in 1986. Following substantial financial losses in the 1987 stock market crash, the two founded Kingston Technology, which became a major manufacturer of computer memory products.

In 1996, they sold an 80 percent stake in Kingston to the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for $1.5 billion, before repurchasing it for $450 million in 1999. The two attracted national attention for distributing $100 million from the sale proceeds to Kingston employees as bonuses. As of October 2026, Forbes estimates Tu's net worth at $33.7 billion, making him the 70th richest person in the world.

## Questions

**When was John Tu born?**  
John Tu was born on 1940 in Chongqing.

**Where did John Tu study?**  
John Tu was educated at Technical University of Darmstadt.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): John Tu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tu) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q6261339](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261339) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article John Tu, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0).

## Cite this page

"John Tu". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/john-tu. Retrieved 12 November 2026.