iPhone maker Foxconn says EV business will need years to ramp up

It will probably take another five years for Hon Hai to fully utilise its production lines at an Ohio facility, EV head Jun Seki says

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Foxconn founder Terry Gou introduces an electric vehicle prototype during the company’s annual tech showcase event in Taipei in October 2022. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:15am, 8 Oct 2024

Hon Hai Precision Industry said that it will take years to build up its nascent automotive arm as electric vehicle (EV) sales slow globally, while its business of making and selling artificial intelligence (AI) servers with Nvidia chips has been booming and growing fast.

The world’s biggest iPhone assembler is proceeding cautiously with its EV push as it sees a highly uncertain business environment where “a fast move may be dangerous”, the head of its EV business Jun Seki said in an interview with Bloomberg TV ahead of a two-day event showcasing emerging tech and products. “We want to be very smart investment wise, development wise.”

Seki, a Nissan Motor veteran who was appointed Hon Hai’s EV strategy chief in 2023, will be one of several key executives showcasing the firm’s latest tech on Tuesday, including a couple of new vehicle models and a US$3 million Nvidia AI chip server.

On EVs, he said it will probably take about another five years for the company to fully utilise its production lines at an Ohio facility it acquired from Lordstown Motors in 2022. The company’s main EV campus in the US, the Ohio plant will be able to build 350,000 vehicles per year.

Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang (left) and Foxconn chairman Young Liu at the company’s annual tech showcase invent in 2023. Photo: AFP

Still, Seki reaffirmed Hon Hai’s goal of securing 5 per cent of global EV manufacturing in 2025 and said it is interested in becoming a player in Japan and Southeast Asia in addition to the US.