French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries.
On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment.
In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based Windrose Technology Inc (葦渡科技).
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Hon Hai announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the France-based Thales SA and Radiall SA to form a strategic partnership and establish a joint venture.
The venture will build France’s first outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility, using fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) technology.
According to Hon Hai, this advanced packaging solution is aimed at serving the European market in sectors such as automotive, space science, 6G mobile technologies and national defense.
In addition, Hon Hai signed another MOU with Thales to explore investment opportunities in the space industry. The partnership aims to develop high-quality, high-value satellite production for large telecommunications satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit.
Hon Hai estimates that the two projects will bring a total investment of 250 million euros to France.
In Taipei, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) shared Macron’s message on Facebook, stating that Taiwan was proud of Hon Hai’s investment.
This marks the second-largest Taiwanese investment in France, following ProLogium Technology Co’s (輝能科技) announcement in May 2023 of a 5.2 billion euro investment to build a solid-state battery “gigafactory” in the northern French port city of Dunkirk.
French Representative to Taiwan Franck Paris said on Tuesday that Hon Hai’s investment has received strong support from the French government and is a positive development for France-Taiwan relations.
Meanwhile, Hon Hai spokesman James Wu (巫俊毅) said on Wednesday in Taipei that the company's subsidiary, Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd (鴻騰精密), had acquired a company in Africa. Hon Hai did not disclose details of the acquisition, its first venture on the continent.
Wu also noted that Hon Hai has received approval from the Indian government to establish a joint integrated circuit packaging and testing plant with HCL Group, with an investment of about NT$13.1 billion (US$434 million).
Hon Hai has looked to expand its manufacturing operations in India.
Hon Hai is making a US$1.5 billion investment to expand its focus on India, according to the company's regulatory filing issued on Monday.
The company said in the filing on Monday that its Singapore-based subsidiary had picked up 12.7 billion shares in its India unit, resulting in an injection of about US$1.5 billion.
The India unit, known as Yuzhan Technology India Pvt Ltd, makes components for smartphones in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
No other details regarding the investment were offered in the filing.
Additional reporting by AFP
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS