Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, plans to manufacture cellphones under the Nokia brand in India next year, according to India’s Economic Times.
The report cited Hon Hai’s head of India operations, Josh Foulger, as saying that the group is set to expand its operations in India, and rolling out devices under the Nokia name is to be part of that effort.
The report said that Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) outside of Taiwan, has invested about US$600 million in India.
On the back of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, Hon Hai has drafted a massive investment project in which the Taiwanese manufacturing giant aims to set up 10 to 12 production plants in India by 2020 to turn the country into one of its global production hubs.
“Since last year, we have restarted operations and right now we’re in the process of finalizing the 2017 plan, [and] there will be more expansion,” Foulger said in the report.
He said that Nokia, which is preparing to make a comeback into the global market, is to unveil products made by Foxconn in the Indian market.
The move to produce cellphones under the Nokia brand comes after Foxconn teamed up with Finland’s HMD Global Oy earlier this year to acquire cellphone assets under the name Nokia from Microsoft Corp for US$350 million.
Market analysts have said the acquisition is aimed at the booming Indian market.
When asked whether Hon Hai would join forces with Apple Inc to manufacture iPhones for the Indian market, Foulger told the Economic Times that the US consumer electronics giant would take its global supply chain into account before deciding whether to contract Foxconn in the Indian market.
Hon Hai is one of the most important Apple suppliers, assembling iPhones and iPads. Apple accounts for more than 40 percent of the Taiwanese manufacturer’s total revenue.
In the report, Foulger praised the Indian government’s phased manufacturing program under the “Make in India” initiative, saying it would attract foreign investors.
Under the program, the private sector and the government have drawn up a 10-year road map until 2025, which covers all electronics component categories, including semiconductors.
Foulgar said that India has been very competitive in the logistics business and serves as an export hub to the Middle East and African markets.
In this regard, he said Hon Hai could work with Indian enterprises to penetrate those markets.
International business media earlier reported that Xiaomi Corp (小米), one of the largest Chinese smartphone brands, would work with Hon Hai to build two factories in India.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS