Taiwan’s Foxconn, widely recognized for assembling iPhones, plans to invest more heavily in the United States while focusing on artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. At an investor conference on Thursday, Foxconn chairman Young Liu announced the company’s intention to replicate its success as an electronics contract manufacturer in the electric vehicle sector, even exploring the possibility of building cars for Tesla. Foxconn has already made inroads into E.V. manufacturing through a partnership with U.S.-based Lordstown Motors to produce an SUV and is also developing its own electric vehicle designs, including a crossover SUV currently being tested in the U.S.
Foxconn said it expects robust growth in its A.I. server business next year as demand for these powerful computers used to power computer graphics and machine learning is strong. The firm said it had more visibility into 2024 than in previous years and that demand for its A.I. servers is expected to grow on a month-by-month basis. The company added that it would invest more in the United States despite concerns that the country’s new administration could penalize it given its dependence on Chinese-made products.
This investment could come from new factories or partnerships with telecommunications, medical devices, and electronics companies. For example, Foxconn will produce ventilators in partnership with Medtronic at its sprawling “innovation centers” scattered around the state of Wisconsin, a project that received billions of dollars in tax subsidies from the state government. The company will also build a factory in Mexico to make Nvidia’s new Blackwell super chip, which is slated for release this year.
However, the firm has delayed its target of capturing 5% of global E.V. sales in 2025 amid weaker-than-expected E.V. demand this year. In the meantime, it is building what it calls the world’s giant factory in Mexico to assemble Nvidia’s new chip and will bolster production at its existing facilities.
In addition to its hefty investments in the United States, Foxconn will expand production in China, with an extensive network of facilities that can churn out millions of phones daily. It plans to hire more workers there and in Indonesia, where it has been investing in a plant that will assemble advanced robots for use in factories and other industrial settings.
While these projects will help Foxconn diversify its revenue streams, its most significant focus remains the Apple supply chain. The company’s shares have doubled this year, handily outperforming the broader market, even though it has been stung by trade tensions between the U.S. and China. In the latest sign of the heightened trade dispute, Trump has threatened to put a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports and a 60% levy on Chinese-made products, which could significantly impact Foxconn, whose Zhengzhou plant in China is a central iPhone assembly hive. The firm has also invested heavily in a self-driving car venture with China’s W.H. Group and is exploring the possibility of making its electric cars.
