Online Extra: Q&A with Hon Hai's Terry Gou

Terry T.M. Gou is the founder and chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., an outsourcing powerhouse that's the largest Taiwanese investor in China. Hon Hai makes just about every kind of info-tech product you can think of, from unglamorous cables and connectors to desktop PCs and servers to cellular phones.

Now, Hon Hai is diversifying into even more products, such as auto parts and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. At the same time, Gou is also expanding his company's commitment to doing its own research and development. Gou rarely speaks to the media, but he recently talked to BusinessWeek's Bruce Einhorn from his cluttered office on the third floor of the Hon Hai headquarters, a drab factory in suburban Taipei's Tucheng industrial park. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation: