James J. Kim Biography

James J. Kim

Kim came to the United States in 1955 to study economics at the University of Pennsylvania. After teaching at Villanova University for six years, he founded Amkor Technology in 1968, as American sales agent for his father's struggling electronics business in South Korea, Anam Electronics. From its start selling transistor radios and calculators, Amkor has grown to become a $1.6 billion business, one of the world's largest makers of computer chips. Anam meanwhile is now one of the 20 largest businesses in Korea. Kim's wife, Agnes, is an entrepreneur in her own right. She started selling consumer electronics products from a kiosk in a shopping mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania in 1977, and now owns an international chain of electronics stores.