On March 1, Microsoft announced that Hou Yang, born in Shenyang, China, would replace Frenchman Ke Ruijie as chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China, leading Microsoft’s strategy, sales and marketing operations in Greater China. Prior to this, Hou Yang served as Senior Vice President of Qualcomm Global.
It is reported that Hou Yang grew up in Shenyang, China, and received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Peking University and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. Hou Yang has worked in Qualcomm’s US and Chinese companies for more than eight years. Before joining Microsoft, as a senior vice president of Qualcomm, he led Qualcomm’s China Semiconductor Business Unit to achieve rapid development and set a triple-speed revenue growth. He led the team to work with telecommunications and mobile Internet partners to achieve technological upgrades, and actively deepen the cooperation with domestic leaders in various industries from mobile phones to industries to automobiles. At the same time, he is also working with the majority of ecological partners to jointly promote technological innovation in the industry. Prior to this, he worked for McKinsey & Company for five years, leading the work of the Technology Division.
Ahmed, President of Microsoft Asia, said, “Hou Yang is a successful innovative and transformative enterprise leader with foresight in the construction of ecological partners in the technology industry and strategic insights into the local market. As an enterprising business leader, Hou Yang has unique and successful experience in business operations, product optimization, sales, and partner-customer relationships. At the same time, he is good at promoting substantial business growth through the balance of strategic thinking and efficient execution. We are very happy to see Until such an outstanding leader can join in the Greater China region. We believe that Microsoft Greater China will seize the opportunity of high growth in the future and continue to develop.”
Hou Yang officially took office on March 1 and will work side by side with Ke Ruijie before July 1 to ensure the smooth completion of the handover. Afterwards, Hou Yang will take over the leadership of Microsoft Greater China.
Ke Ruijie has been the chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Greater China since 2016. He has worked at Microsoft for more than 25 years and has managed teams spanning four continents. Corrage graduated from the Claude Bernard University of Lyon, France with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and social sciences, and then obtained a degree in business management from the Ecole School of Management in Paris, France.
According to Microsoft, Ke Ruijie continues to promote the transformation of Microsoft’s own business, turning industry-leading cloud services into an engine to promote customer business, and helping customers achieve digital transformation of enterprises to meet the needs of the new era of “intelligent cloud and intelligent edge”. Ke Ruijie has brought continuous business growth to Microsoft Greater China, strongly supported the development of high-growth cloud computing start-ups, and built a strong partner ecosystem. Combining the excellent technical capabilities and solutions of these partners, Microsoft not only helps large and small- and medium-sized companies to develop rapidly in Greater China, but also further promotes their business to gradually expand to overseas markets and go global. Under his leadership, Microsoft continued to increase its investment in the Greater China region and doubled the capacity of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud services in China twice.
Until July 1 this year, Ke Ruijie will continue to be responsible for the strategic execution and business performance of Microsoft Greater China. His future appointment plan will be announced at a later date.