The “Crane King” behind Taiwan's chips: How Chi Deh quietly built the heavy-lifting backbone of a global tech powerhouse

From moving equipment into semiconductor fabs to installing wind turbines and supporting disaster-relief operations, Chi Deh Crane Engineering has spent five decades lifting more than steel — it has helped elevate Taiwan's industrial rise.

The heavy-lifting company behind the world's most advanced factories

While Taiwan's semiconductor champions have become globally recognized, another company has spent half a century largely outside the public spotlight, making some of the island's most ambitious industrial projects physically possible.

Headquartered in Hsinchu, Chi Deh is Taiwan's largest heavy-lifting specialist, employing around 1,000 people across Taiwan and mainland China. It provides integrated engineering solutions including equipment move-in and move-out, heavy-cargo transport, heavy lifting and hoisting, equipment installation, maintenance, dismantling, and full plant relocation.

During a July 8 visit to the company's headquarters, TCN met with Chi Deh executives, including Hu Min-xuan (胡閩玹), daughter of Chairman Hu Han-yan (胡漢龑), who oversees public relations and international business.

She described how Chi Deh grew from a business with a single second-hand crane into an indispensable partner for Taiwan's semiconductor industry, renewable energy projects, and major infrastructure developments.

At the center of that transformation is Hu Han-yan, widely known in Taiwan as the "Crane King." The nickname reflects the scale of his fleet, his decades of engineering experience, entrepreneurial resolve, and reputation for tackling projects others consider impossible.

From one second-hand crane to an engineering institution

The company traces its roots to 1975, when founder Hu Peng-fei (胡鵬飛), Hu Min-xuan’s grandfather and Hu Han-yan's father, established Chi Deh after serving in Taiwan's aviation engineering corps. He started the business with a single used crane.

Deeply devoted to the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond, or Yaochi Jinmu, the highest-ranking goddess in Taoism, Hu Peng-fei regarded faith as an important source of perseverance during the company's early years.

Today, visitors entering Chi Deh's headquarters are greeted by an imposing statue of the deity, reflecting the role that faith played in the company's early development. 

Hu Han-yan joined his father's business at age 15, operating cranes and learning the trade from the ground up.

He did not move directly into management, instead mastering the practical demands of the profession. That experience continues to shape his leadership, including his willingness to invest heavily in equipment.

According to Hu Min-xuan, Chi Deh has invested about NT$1.2 billion (US$37.4 million) in advanced German lifting equipment under her father's leadership, strengthening its capabilities in Taiwan's heavy-engineering sector.

Growing alongside Taiwan's semiconductor and tech industry

A pivotal moment came in 1986, when Chi Deh began operating in Hsinchu Science Park.

As Taiwan's semiconductor industry began its ascent, Chi Deh became one of the earliest heavy-lifting contractors serving companies that would later become global technology leaders, including TSMC.

The company supported early factory construction in the park, including the development of TSMC fabs.

As TSMC and its supply chain expanded, so did Chi Deh's services. The company also transports high-precision equipment manufactured by Dutch chipmaking-equipment supplier ASML, per the New York Times.

According to a company presentation given by Hu Min-xuan, Chi Deh has worked with Micron and Taiwanese chipmaker Winbond for more than a decade.

Chi Deh has also worked with United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Innolux for more than three decades, while its partnerships with AUO and Vanguard International Semiconductor span more than 20 years.

Such longevity is unusual in project-based engineering, where contracts are often awarded individually.

Hu Min-xuan attributed the long-term relationships not only to technical capability, but also to trust built through years of completing high-stakes projects in which delays or errors could cost clients millions of dollars.

Chi Deh's portfolio also includes work involving Taiwan's Formosat satellites, including Formosat-5 and the Formosat-8 Zeppelin Satellite, illustrating the company's involvement in specialized space-related programs.

As global attention increasingly focuses on Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem, the cranes and crews that move multimillion-dollar manufacturing equipment into fabrication plants remain an indispensable, if often overlooked, component of that ecosystem.

Engineering across borders

Chi Deh's ambitions soon extended beyond Taiwan.

After entering mainland China in 2001, the company gradually established operations in Shanghai, Suzhou, Anhui and more than eight cities, complementing its Taiwanese bases in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan.

International expansion accelerated in 2007 through projects spanning Germany, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei, according to the company’s slide deck.

Asked how Chi Deh enters overseas markets, Hu Min-xuan said the company typically forms joint ventures rather than operating independently.

She explained that executives first conduct extensive market research before identifying local partners that complement Chi Deh's engineering strengths. While Chi Deh contributes cranes with varied lifting capacities and decades of technical expertise, its partners provide knowledge of regulations, permitting procedures and regional operating conditions.

The arrangement allows each side to focus on its comparative advantages while reducing operational risk.

Renewable energy transition and CSR practices

Although semiconductors remain a cornerstone of the business, renewable energy has emerged as another defining chapter.

Chi Deh established its dedicated wind power division in 2009 under Hu Han-yan’s leadership, well before Taiwan's offshore wind industry reached its current scale.

Since then, the company has participated in over 45 projects and installed more than 120 wind turbines. Its portfolio includes major installations in Taichung, Changhua, and Yunlin.

One particularly demanding assignment came in 2025, when Chi Deh dismantled eight aging wind turbines in Taiwan's outlying Penghu Islands.

Hu Min-xuan said that unlike conventional construction, the project in Penghu required extraordinary precision while coordinating dismantling, overland heavy transport, and maritime logistics.

Such projects illustrate how heavy engineering increasingly underpins Taiwan's transition toward renewable energy just as it has long supported semiconductor manufacturing.

Looking ahead, Chi Deh says it aims to become a leading wind-power engineering brand in the Asia-Pacific region. It also plans to digitize its operations, deepen the localization of green energy supply chains and provide one-stop services for the renewable energy industry.

Disaster relief and community support

Hu Min-xuan said her father has long emphasized “giving back to society.”

After a powerful earthquake struck Hualien in September 2025, causing widespread damage, Hu Han-yan personally led a relief convoy to the disaster zone. The team set out before dawn, completed a nearly 10-hour drive and immediately joined recovery operations.

Chi Deh deployed specialized vehicles equipped with sweeping equipment to clear thick layers of mud from affected areas. According to Hu Min-xuan, deploying the vehicles meant foregoing commercial work that could have generated millions of New Taiwan dollars in revenue.

Hu Han-yan also donated relief supplies and financial assistance worth as much as NT$1 million. The company's teams remained in Hualien for 17 days at no charge, often working long hours to support recovery efforts.

In late May 2026, he donated two new patrol cars to Hsinchu authorities after learning that several police vehicles were nearing the end of their operational lives.

Precision, not price, defines the business

Unlike standardized industries, heavy lifting rarely comes with fixed price lists. Every project, Hu Min-xuan explained, is individually designed.

Before work begins, engineering teams conduct site surveys, evaluate transportation routes, calculate fuel consumption, assess lifting requirements and identify potential logistical constraints.

Each price quote therefore reflects a project's specific technical conditions rather than predetermined market rates. This emphasis on customization is accompanied by growing digitalization.

The company is introducing digital management systems to improve project planning, operational efficiency and equipment coordination as engineering projects become increasingly complex.

Hu Min-xuan noted that international partners are often surprised by how meticulously Chi Deh maintains its machinery.

She added that in an industry where heavy equipment often shows visible wear, Chi Deh's clean and well-organized fleet has become a hallmark of professionalism and competence.

Looking ahead

Hu Han-yan has also developed a public profile through his business career, disaster-relief work and advocacy for Taiwan's skilled trades.

The heavy-lifting industry faces an aging workforce and difficulty attracting younger workers, even as many veteran crane operators have more than 20 years of experience.

To address the challenge, Hu frequently visits schools and universities to introduce students to careers in heavy engineering and encourage them to pursue skilled trades.

Hu Min-xuan said that her father has repeatedly expressed a hope that Chi Deh will continue thriving long after he is gone.

Rather than building an organization dependent upon a single charismatic leader, he hopes every employee will matter while no individual — including himself — becomes indispensable.

As Taiwan occupies an increasingly central position in global technology supply chains, companies like TSMC often dominate international headlines.

But behind semiconductor fabrication plants, satellite programs and offshore wind turbine installations stands an intricate network of engineering specialists whose contributions remain largely unseen.

Chi Deh Crane Engineering is one of those companies. Its cranes may lift steel, turbines and semiconductor equipment, but over five decades they have also helped lift Taiwan's industrial capabilities onto the global stage.