Apple Supplier Foxconn Aims To Begin Mass-Producing EVs In US Within 2 Years As Smartphone Sales Slump: Report

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd HNHPF, better known as Foxconn, said Thursday it plans to begin mass production electric vehicles in the United States and Thailand, Nikkei Asia reported.

What Happened: Foxconn Chair Young Liu reportedly said at the company’s April-June quarter earnings call that “Our plans are to begin mass production in the U.S. and Thailand respectively in 2023.” 

“Other than in the U.S. and Thailand, we are also in talks with possible locations in Europe too as part of our global EV footprint strategy," Liu said, as per Nikkei Asia.

The U.S. plant will address the needs of Fisker Inc. FSR, an EV startup, for which Foxconn will start building EVs by the end of 2023, the executive disclosed.

The plant in Thailand will be a joint venture with local oil and gas giant PTT and will focus on the development of a platform and component production for EVs, as per Liu. 

The planned capacity at the Thai facility will reach 150,000 to 200,000 units, reported Nikkei Asia. 

Why It Matters: Foxconn’s second-quarter net income rose 30% on a year-over-year basis to NT$ 29.8 billion ($1.07 billion), beating an estimate of NT$25.7 billion ($923.29 million).

The Apple Inc AAPL supplier expects sales of smartphones to fall sequentially this quarter, as per Bloomberg.

See Also: Apple Has Added More Suppliers In China Than Anywhere Else, Sidelining Political Concerns: SCMP

In March, it was reported that Foxconn was exploring North American manufacturing sites with possible locations spanning Wisconsin or Mexico.

Mexico has been ruled out as a possible location but the company is still negotiating with three U.S. states including Wisconsin, as per Nikkei Asia.

Foxconn supplies to a number of large tech names such as Apple, Microsoft Inc MSFT, Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG and Amazon.com, Inc AMZN. 

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Photo by Nadkachna on Wikimedia