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.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
RSS