Apple Inc’s local manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) outside of Taiwan, is setting up a vehicle venture, strengthening its automotive capabilities at a time when technology companies, including its California ally, are looking to expand in automaking.
Hon Hai is joining forces with Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (浙江吉利控股集團) to provide production and consulting services to global automotive enterprises, the companies said in a statement yesterday.
The production and consulting services are related to whole vehicles, parts, intelligent drive systems and automotive ecosystem platforms, Hon Hai said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Each party is to hold a 50 percent stake in the new joint venture, FuTaiHua Industrial (Shenzhen) Ltd (富泰華工業深圳), with Hon Hai appointing three directors, including the chairperson, to the venture’s five-member board and Geely appointing two, the filing said.
Amid reports of Apple considering making its own electric vehicles (EVs), Hon Hai has been bulking up its automotive muscles swiftly. Such moves might help the company become a major contender to make vehicles for its largest customer.
With development work still at an early stage, Apple would take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous electric vehicle, people with knowledge of the efforts have told Bloomberg News.
That suggests the company is in no hurry to decide on potential auto-industry partners.
Hon Hai in October last year unveiled its first-ever EV chassis and a software platform aimed at helping automakers bring models to the market faster.
It plans to deliver its first development kit in April, with Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) saying that EV-related business in the first half of this year would be “very good.”
Hon Hai’s key unit, Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), is reportedly expanding a plant to develop automotive metal parts.
Earlier this month, Hon Hai signed a manufacturing deal with embattled Chinese electric-vehicle start-up Byton Ltd (拜騰) with the aim to start mass production of the Byton M-Byte by the first quarter of next year.
Setting up an auto plant can cost billions of US dollars and take years, which is probably why Apple is talking to potential manufacturing partners.
The company has continued to investigate building its self-driving vehicle system for a third-party auto partner rather than its own vehicle, the people familiar with matter have said, and the company could ultimately abandon its own vehicle efforts in favor of this approach.
Other technology companies seeking to expand into the autonomous driving space have also sought partnerships.
Alphabet Inc’s self-driving unit Waymo has worked with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, while Amazon.com Inc has tapped Rivian Automotive Inc for cooperation over delivery vans.
This week, Geely struck a pact with search-engine giant Baidu Inc (百度) to set up a venture to make intelligent EVs.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The seizure of one of the largest known mercury shipments in history, moving from mines in Mexico to illegal Amazon gold mining zones, exposes the wide use of the toxic metal in the rainforest, according to authorities. Peru’s customs agency, SUNAT, found 4 tonnes of illegal mercury in Lima’s port district of Callao, according to a report by the non-profit Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA). “This SUNAT intervention has prevented this chemical from having a serious impact on people’s health and the environment, as can be seen in several areas of the country devastated by the illegal use of mercury and illicit activities,”
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),
Taiwan’s property transactions in the first half of this year fell 26.4 percent year-on-year to about 130,000 units, as credit controls and mortgage restrictions dampened demand, data from the Ministry of the Interior showed yesterday. Keelung saw the steepest decline, with transactions plummeting 45.6 percent to just 2,041 units — the lowest since the ministry began its survey in 2006. In contrast, Miaoli County was the only region to experience year-on-year growth, with transactions rising 2.4 percent to 3,229 units. Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) attributed the increase in deals in Miaoli, particularly Jhunan (竹南) and Toufen (頭份) townships, to spillover demand
RSS