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Ann Kao Hung-an (; born 25 January 1984) is a Taiwanese business executive, engineer, and politician. She worked for Foxconn until 2020, when she was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a member of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP). Partway through her legislative term, Kao was elected Mayor of Hsinchu during the 2022 local election cycle. On 26 July 2024, Kao was suspended from office and left the TPP due to corruption allegations.
While working as a researcher for the III, Kao was also a cofounder and part-time employee of Servtech. Immediately prior to running for political office, Kao worked closely with Terry Gou as vice president of Foxconn's Industrial Big Data Office.
Separately, Lin Keng-jen accused Kao of violating the Anti-Corruption Act. Lin also questioned whether Kao had fraudulently hired her alleged partner. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau duly investigated Kao on these and other allegations, including accepting illegal political donations. The day before the 2022 mayoral election, a whistleblower brought attention to an instance of alleged intimidation by a member of Kao's legislative staff toward a former member of the staff. Despite the allegations against Kao, she won the mayoral election with 98,121 votes (45%), ahead of Shen (35.7%) and Lin (18%). Prior to taking office as mayor, investigators searched Kao's legislative offices and questioned her in regards to the allegations against her.
Upon taking office on 25 December 2022, Kao became the first female Mayor of Hsinchu, and the youngest female county magistrate or mayor in Taiwanese history. Her legislative seat was filled by Chen Wan-hui. Republished as:
In June 2024, following Kao's indictment, an anonymous person launched a campaign to recall her as mayor, citing issues such as an apartment complex fire and allegations of allowing her boyfriend to "exert undue influence in city affairs." As of August, the campaign failed to gain enough signatures in a first-round petition. Organizers said the campaign had reached 53% of the required threshold of signatures in mid-December.
On 26 July 2024, Kao was suspended by Ministry of the Interior from the position of mayor due to corruption charges. Her deputy, Andy Chiu serves as the acting mayor during Kao's suspension.
On 26 July 2024, the Taipei District Court found Kao guilty of violating the Anti-Corruption Act and the Criminal Code. Specifically, the court found her guilty of embezzling NT$116,514 and sentenced her to seven years and four months in prison. The court also said that she would lose her civil rights for four years. In accordance with the law, Kao was suspended from office. Subsequently, she announced her withdrawal as a member of the Taiwan People's Party. Kao said that the ruling was unprecedented when compared to similar cases in the past decade. The TPP said that the sentence was disproportionate.
Kao appealed the case to the Taiwan High Court. In January 2025, the court paused their review of the case to seek guidance from the Constitutional Court, because the first paragraph of Article 32 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan was found to contravene Article 18 of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court declined to hear the case.
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