TAIPEI: iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is focusing on electric cars and redrawing some of its supply chains as it witnesses a new era of strained relations between US and China.
Even as the company shifts some supply chains away from China, electric vehicles are what will drive its growth in the coming decades, Foxconn’s chairman Young Liu told BBC in an interview.
As US-China ties are getting more icy, Liu said, the company must prepare for the worst.
He said they hoped that peace and stability would be something the leaders of these two nations would keep in mind. However, as a business, Foxconn would have to think about what if the worst case happens?
The possible scenarios could include China’s attempt to blockade Taiwan, which it claims as part of it, or worse, to invade the island.
Liu said that business continuity planning was already underway, adding that some production lines, especially those linked to national security products, were already being shifted from China to Vietnam and Mexico.
He was possibly referring to servers his company makes that are used in data centres, and can have sensitive information.
Foxconn started off in 1974, making knobs for TVs. Now it is one of the most powerful technology companies in the world, with an annual revenue of 200 billion dollars.
It is famous for manufacturing more than half of Apple’s products – from iMacs to iPhones – but it also counts Sony, Dell, Microsoft, and Amazon among its clients.
As global supply chains adjust to souring relations between US and China, Foxconn finds itself in a difficult position, caught between the world’s two powerful economies, the very countries that have powered its growth until now.
Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over many issues, from trade to the Russia-Ukraine war. But one of the dangerous potential flashpoints is Taiwan, where Foxconn is headquartered.
