Born in Foochow, China, Hui Huang completed his BSEE degree at Chaio-tung University in Shanghai before coming to Purdue University for graduate study. In 1930 he received his MEE from Cornell and began working for Fargo Engineering Company in Jackson, Michigan.

After spending two years in Switzerland and Germany, Huang returned to China where he served on the National Construction and National Resources Commissions from 1933 until 1945. In 1945, he was named vice president of the Taiwan Power Company. Later he became president of the Taiwan Power Company, the position he occupied when he retired in 1962.

Huang returned to the United States in 1962 and remained here for eleven years as a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, D. C. He returned to Taipei in 1979 to serve as chairman of Pacific Engineers and Constructors, Ltd., a position he occupied until 1987. Now retired, Huang holds the honorary title of senior advisor, Taiwan Power Company.

In addition to his work in the energy area, Huang invented an unique coding system of Chinese characters for Chinese computers which can be used for the compilation of dictionaries and indexes. In 1962, he was awarded the Brilliant Star Award by the government of the Republic of China and he received an honorary doctorate from Purdue University.