Forbes Asia Power Businesswomen List Names 20 Women Leading from AI to Banking, India Has the Most

Women business leaders in Asia are strengthening their position in the technology sector. They are now leading in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, data centres and technology infrastructure. But their success is not limited to technology; Asian women are also in leading positions in banking, financial services, renewable energy, cosmetics and retail.

Forbes Asia has published its 2026 'Power Businesswomen' list with 20 such successful women business leaders and top executives from 12 Asian countries and territories. India has the most, with three women on the list. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, China and Japan have two each. The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore have one each.

Four of the women on the list lead businesses in the AI infrastructure sector, playing an important role from precision semiconductor components to fibre-optic parts for data centres. Another four have taken cosmetics and retail businesses from their home countries to the international level.

JPC Connectivity, founded by Taiwan's Jessica Chang, now plays an important role in supplying parts for AI data centres. Companies such as Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft buy parts from them. In the first half of 2026, her company's net profit rose to 26 million dollars, while its revenue rose to 136.8 million dollars in the same period.

Under another Taiwanese businesswoman, Audrey Tsai, ITEQ produces circuit board materials needed for AI data centres. The company's market value has reached 8.61 billion dollars. In the first six months of this year, the firm made a net profit of 48.7 million dollars.

China's Peng Li and Chen Weiliang founded MetaX Integrated Circuits in 2020. The company makes chips and software needed to run AI models. In the first nine months of this year, its revenue rose 128 percent to 420 million dollars, while net profit was 95.8 million dollars in the same period.

Wang Xin, founder of China's Guangdong DETech Technology, is also doing well in the AI technology sector. The company produces precision drill bits needed for mounting AI chips and making circuit boards. In the first nine months of 2026, its net profit rose more than fourfold to 165 million dollars, while revenue rose by about 150 percent in the same period.

Ana Maria Aboitiz Delgado leads the Philippines' UnionBank. She took charge of the bank in January 2025. Her bank acquired Citibank's Philippine consumer banking business in 2022 for 1.3 billion dollars. UnionBank has 19.5 million customers and assets worth 18.9 billion dollars. In the first nine months of this year, its net profit rose 53 percent from the same period a year earlier to 155.4 million dollars.

Indian entrepreneur Ananya Birla is the founder of Svatantra Microfin, the country's second-largest microfinance institution. It has 2.25 billion dollars of assets under management and 4.3 million customers, most of them rural women. The institution now plans to raise 320 million dollars through a stock market listing.

Under chief executive Lanni Budiati, Indonesia's BCA Digital saw its net profit rise in 2025 to about 11.8 million dollars. The bank's lending has also increased, and it has 3.1 million customers.

Yuko Seimei, chief executive of Japan's Monex Group, is playing an important role in financial technology. The firm has 12.6 billion dollars of assets under management. She has also played an important role in expanding the cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck. Japanese telecom company KDDI has bought a 15 percent stake in the firm for 65 million dollars.

Under its chief executive, Singapore's AIA Insurance saw its after-tax operating profit rise in 2025 to 563 million dollars, while the expected profit from new insurance policies also rose 14 percent. Thailand's Naruchon Dhumrongpiyawat, chief executive of Gunkul Engineering, works in renewable energy. Her company's revenue in 2025 was 252 million dollars. It produces solar and wind power in four countries, with a capacity of 1,629 megawatts, and plans to invest between 1.19 billion and 1.48 billion dollars in the sector by 2030.