[4] In 1936, he left Fujian to join his brother Liem Sioe Hie and brother-in-law Zheng Xusheng in Kudus, Central Java.
[1] Salim diversified their peanut oil trading company into the clove market, which was growing rapidly from demand for production.
[7] In 1952, after moving to Jakarta, Salim expanded his peanut oil trading company by establishing connections with other Overseas Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.
He also established Bogasari, a joint venture with another businessman of Hokchia ancestry where the company later became Indonesia's largest miller, producer, and supplier of flour.
When the Asian Financial Crisis hit, the conglomerate incurred US$4.8 billion in debt[9] and had to give up control of Bank Central Asia in 1998 to the Indonesian government for nationalization.