Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and its Japanese subsidiary, Sharp Corp, are planning to build a flat panel production site in the US, Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
The report said that Hon Hai is expected to team up with Sharp, of which the Taiwanese firm owns a 66 percent stake after a US$3.5 billion acquisition in August last year, to invest about ¥800 billion (US$7.18 billion) for the project.
The report said that the investment is to focus on production of small and medium-sized screens for smartphone and automotive manufacturers.
It also aims to provide better services to Apple Inc for iPhone production, market analysts said.
Hon Hai is one of the most important suppliers to Apple, assembling iPhones and iPads. The US consumer electronics giant accounts for about 40 percent of Hon Hai’s yearly revenue.
Hon Hai has been in talks with US authorities to possibly invest in the nation at a time when US President Donald Trump is advocating an “America first” approach.
Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) last month visited the White House twice and White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom said that he briefly met with Trump.
Many investors perceive Hon Hai’s plan to invest in the US as a positive development, because it could help it secure orders from its US clients, market analysts said.
Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, has built a broad production base in China, employing more than 1 million workers there. It has also launched a project to establish 10 to 12 facilities in India by 2020.
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