Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) Three Taiwanese high-tech manufacturers have been included in the Forbes magazine "Top Regarded Companies" list for 2017.
Forbes ranked Taiwan-based PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc. 26th on the list, ahead of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in 177th and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in 248th.
The first-ever top regarded companies list by Forbes applied a wide range of criteria such as company trustworthiness, social conduct, reputation as an employer and market performance of products or services.
Forbes compiled the list after collecting the opinions of 15,000 interviewees from about 60 countries.
Although Asustek has a market capitalization of only US$7.3 billion, far behind TSMC's US$161.7 billion and Hon Hai's US$54.4 billion, the Taiwanese PC brand ranked ahead of both companies.
TSMC is the world's largest contract chipmaker, with more than 50 percent of the global market, while Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn in the global market, is the world's largest contract electronics maker.
Foxconn recently signed a deal to invest US$10 billion to build an advanced flat panel plant in Wisconsin as part of its investment program dubbed the Flying Eagle project in the U.S.
Asustek finished ahead of many multinational electronics suppliers, including South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. (38th), LG Corp. (39th) and Dell Technologies (47th).
In the 2017 rankings, German conglomerate Siemens AG, France-based tire brand Michelin Group, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Japan's gaming console supplier Nintendo and U.S. entertainment giant Walt Disney were the top five, Forbes said.
Apple Inc. ranked No. 7 on the list behind Denmark's beer brand Carlsberg, according to Forbes. China's PC brand Lenovo Group came in 27th, making it the top Chinese firms on the list.
