Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer

Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer

Foxconn, or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is the biggest global electronics manufacturing company. Based in Tucheng, Taiwan, Foxconn is the name that manufactures electronics items for many well-known American, Chinese, Canadian, and Japanese companies. Popular products manufactured by Foxconn included iPad, iPod, Kindle, BlackBerry, Nokia devices, Sony devices, and even Apple's iPhone. Of late, Foxconn has also ventured into the auto manufacturing industry. Let's explore more about this electronics manufacturing giant.

Foxconn - Company Highlights

Startup Name Foxconn Technology Group
Also Known As Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.
Headquarters Tucheng District, New Taipei, Taiwan
Industry Electronics
Products Electronics, electronic components, PCBs, PCB components, computer chips.
Founders Terry Gou
Founded 20 February 1974
Chairman Young Liu
Website www.foxconn.com

Foxconn - About
Foxconn - Latest News
Foxconn - Founder and CEO
Foxconn - Startup Story
Foxconn - Mission and Vision
Foxconn - Logo
Foxconn - Business Model and Revenue Model
Foxconn - Employees
Foxconn - Challenges Faced
Foxconn - Funding and Investors
Foxconn - Investments
Foxconn - Mergers and Acquisitions
Foxconn - Growth
Foxconn - Competitors
Foxconn - Awards and Achievements
Foxconn - Future Plans
Foxconn - FAQs

Foxconn - About

Foxconn Technology is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer that specializes in the manufacturing of computer, communications, and consumer electronics goods. In 2010, Foxconn was the world's largest electronics manufacturing service provider and the third-largest technology company in terms of revenue.

Foxconn manufactures a wide range of products. Metal shells, structural components, thermal modules, gaming console assembly goods, Desktop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, servers, mobile phones, projectors, e-book readers, digital cameras, and workstation radiators are some products that Foxconn produces for its clients. The company's goods are mostly distributed in China, the United States, and Japan.

Other countries where the business has built R&D and production facilities include China, India, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, the United States, and others. The firm has over 83,500 patents and focuses on research and development. Foxconn is committed to supporting environmental sustainability in the manufacturing process and serving as a best-practices model for global organizations, in addition to optimizing value creation for clients.

Over the years, Foxconn  Group has expanded not only its capabilities into the development of electric vehicles, digital health, and robotics, but also three key technologies – AI, semiconductors, and next-generation communications technology – by leveraging its expertise in Cloud Computing, Mobile Devices, IoT, Big Data, AI, Smart Networks, and Robotics / Automation.

Foxconn - Latest News

In August 2021, Stellantis, a global automaker, and Foxconn announced a joint venture to develop a "smart cockpit" for automobiles that would include navigation, voice help, and payment services. The joint venture between Foxconn and Stellantis, called 'Mobile Drive' will make the smart cockpits available to other carmakers.

"Its roadmap of software innovations will include artificial intelligence-based applications, navigation, voice assistance, e-commerce store operations, and payment services integration, amongst others," the companies said in a joint statement.

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Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer

Foxconn - Founder and CEO

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. or Foxconn was founded by Terry Gou in 1974 as an electrical component maker.

Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer
Foxconn Founder & CEO - Terry Gou

Terry Gou

Terry Gou is the founder and CEO of Foxconn. Born on 18th October 1950, Terry Gou is a Taiwanese billionaire businessman.  After graduation, Gou worked with several factories before founding Hon Hai (Foxconn's parent company) in 1974 in Taiwan. Hon Hai started as a plastic part manufacturer for television, with just 10 elderly workers.

Today, Foxconn is the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer, employing 1.2 million people in Mainland China,  and serving as China's largest private employer and exporter. It has plants in various countries, the majority of which are located in mainland China.

Foxconn - Startup Story

Terry Gou established Hon Hai in Taiwan in 1974 with $7,500 in seed money and 10 older laborers, working out of a leased shed in Tucheng, a Taipei suburb, producing plastic parts for television sets. In 1980, he received an order from Atari to create the console joystick, which marked a turning point in his career.

In the 1980s, he extended his firm even further by going on an 11-month road tour across the United States in pursuit of new clients. Despite having security called on him numerous times, Gou was able to break into many organizations uninvited and obtain further orders as an aggressive salesperson.

He built his first plant in mainland China, in Shenzhen, in 1988, and it is still his largest factory today. When Gou vertically integrated the assembly process and work facilities in China, operations grew dramatically. The factory site was transformed into a campus including accommodation, dining, medical care, burial for the workers, and poultry raising to supply the restaurant.

Hon Hai began producing Compaq desktop chassis in 1996. This was a watershed moment, and it led to the development of bare-bones chassis for other high-profile clients including HP, IBM, and Apple. Foxconn evolved to become a consumer electronics behemoth in just a few years.


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Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer

Foxconn - Mission and Vision

Foxconn's vision statement says, "Creating comprehensive smart living experiences for our customers across the globe."

Foxconn's mission statement says, "To ensure all employees to take active roles in meeting company’s global targets, by decomposing them into departmentally distributed realistic targets/ To ensure a reliable organization and discipline where all employees will be glad to be a part in/ To act continuously on increasing the turnover by considering the principle of “Win-Win”/ To ensure the use of all resources effectively and efficiently/ To create a clean, healthy and safe production and work environment which respects to human and considers the next generations."

Foxconn - The World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer
Foxconn's Company Logo

Foxconn - Business Model and Revenue Model

Layer Player - Foxconn serves as a component supplier to several OEMs. It focuses on the mass manufacture of specialized parts for electrical goods in this section. It may reach huge economies of scale by focusing on certain components, making total manufacturing cheaper.

Rent Rather Than Buy- Foxconn also serves as a contract manufacturer for corporations like Apple. This enables Apple to mass-produce its goods using Foxconn's massive manufacturing facilities and low-cost facilities. By providing contract manufacturing, Foxconn helps its clients to avoid the high costs of constructing their own production facilities.

Solution Provider - When acting as a contract manufacturer, Foxconn provides clients with fully integrated solutions that encompass the whole production process. In this way, it reduces production costs per unit by leveraging its low-cost manufacturing knowledge and the scale of its manufacturing facilities. It can manufacture items for its clients, such as the Apple iPhone, for less than Apple could produce it directly, thanks to its whole service offering.

Whitelabel - In addition to private label manufacture, which Foxconn conducts for Apple through contract manufacturing, it also provides white-label items. These are usually not branded with Foxconn's logo, but rather with the distributor's, and sold to a variety of distributors. Because the underlying technology is identical, this enables these generally low-priced electronic items to be made on a larger scale and hence at a cheaper cost than if they were produced by a single distributor.

Foxconn - Employees

  • Terry Gou - Founder
  • Alan Yeung - Director US Strategic Initiatives
  • Fang Ming Lu - GM Asia-Pacific Region & Board of Directors (Hon Hai
  • Precision Industry Co. Ltd)
  • Min Chih Chuo - Corporate Supervisor
  • Louis Woo - Executive
  • Daniel Ying-Tso Lai - Senior Deputy Manager
  • Aymar de Lencquesaing - Vice Chairman
  • Jack Lee - Founding Partner, Executive Director

Foxconn - Challenges Faced

Foxconn's labor policies were being scrutinized again and again.

According to an investigation by China Labor Watch, a New York-based labor advocacy group, and The Observer, a British newspaper, a Foxconn facility in Hengyang, China, breached labor regulations. Amazon's Echo smart speakers and Kindle devices are made at this facility.

Foxconn said that it was “carrying out a full investigation of the areas raised by that report.” The company added that it “works hard to comply with all relevant laws and regulations” in the markets where it operates and that “if infractions are identified, we work to immediately rectify them.”

Here's an overview of some of the problems allegedly plaguing Foxconn's factories:

  • Suicides are a common occurrence - In 2010, the firm was rocked by a wave of employee suicides. Since then, there have been further occurrences.
  • The exploitation of wages and working hours - Foxconn was accused in 2012 of underpaying its workers and forcing them to work long hours. As a result, the firm has promised to shorten shifts and boost salaries.
  • Serious Accidents - An electric shock in 2011 left one Foxconn employee with neurological damage. In the same year, an explosion in a factory killed four people and wounded another 18.
  • Workers under the age of 18 and those working illegally -  In 2012, Foxconn acknowledged employing minors as young as 14 at one of its facilities. Late this year, Apple acknowledged that student employees were found working overtime at a factory where the iPhone X is produced, in contravention of local rules.
  • Riots are a common occurrence -. In 2012, a major riot involving over 1,000 workers occurred at one of the company's plants.
  • Poor living conditions - In 2012, the New York Times stated that three-room staff flats could house up to 20 workers.

For its part, Foxconn has attempted to solve problems as they arise, making its workplaces safer and raising compensation to boost morale.

Foxconn - Funding and Investors

Date Round Amount Lead Investors
Apr 4, 2017 Series B $20M Sprint Vc

Foxconn - Investments

Foxconn Technology Group has invested in 74 companies. GyroGear, which raised £3.1 million on February 25, 2021, was their most recent investment. Below are some major investments made by Foxconn.

Date Organization Name Round Amount
Feb 25, 2021 GyroGear Seed Round £3.1M
Jan 19, 2021 Kneron Venture Round -
Sep 22, 2020 SigmaSense Series A $22M
Aug 6, 2020 Yungongchang Series B CN¥100M
Jan 16, 2020 Nanox Imaging Series B $26M
Jan 8, 2020 Zap Surgical Systems Private Equity Round $81M
Sep 4, 2019 Light Seed Round -
Apr 11, 2019 PENSEES Series A CN¥150M
Mar 21, 2019 Yungongchang Series A -
Jan 29, 2019 StormForge Series A $5M

Foxconn - Mergers and Acquisitions

Acquiree Name About Acquiree Date Amount
Sonder Design Sonder seeks to create beautiful products that delight, surprise & connect with its customers. Dec 1, 2019 $9.8M
Moran Cognitive Technology Founded in May 2016, located in 768 Creative Industrial Zone, Haidian, Beijing, China Aug 22, 2018 $10M
flnet.com flnet.com is an e-commerce platform for tablet PCs, laptops, one machine, portable TV, LCD TV, etc. May 25, 2017 CN¥2B
SMART Technologies SMART Technologies develops interactive whiteboards and group collaboration tools for classrooms and meeting rooms. May 26, 2016 $200M
TeleEye TeleEye is a surveillance camera developer company. Apr 13, 2016 $203.7M
Sharp Sharp is engaged in the manufacture and sale of electric telecommunication, electric, and electronic equipments. Mar 30, 2016 $3.8B
SoftBank Group SoftBank Group is a holding company focused on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Feb 27, 2016 $600M
Ennoconn Corp Ennoconn Corp is an Industrial motherboard designer and a total hardware system solution provider to various vertical market applications Jan 1, 2007 -

Foxconn - Growth

Foxconn forecasted a 10% increase in revenue in 2021, owing to "stronger than projected" sales of smartphones, particularly the new iPhone 12, and telecommuting gadgets, as a result of the coronavirus-induced work-from-home trend. Foxconn's stock has climbed by about 41% this year(2021).

Foxconn reported NT$5.35 trillion in revenue in 2020, which is around $192 billion in U.S. dollars. Since its inception, the firm has earned several worldwide honors and recognition. In the Fortune Global 500 rankings for 2020, the firm was placed 26th and 25th in the Top 100 Digital Companies in the Forbes list of the World's Best Employers for 2019.


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Foxconn - Competitors

Jabil, Toshiba, NN LABS, TDK, and Celestica are among Foxconn's competitors.

Foxconn - Awards and Achievements

Recent awards and achievements of Foxconn:-

  • 2017 - Shortlisted in Forbes World's Best Employers, Announced Key Strategic Tenets of Cloud Computing, Mobile Terminals, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Speed Networks, and Robots, Foxconn Interconnect Technology listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, U.S. Flying Eagle Program launched
  • 2018 - Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovators – awarded in 4 consecutive years – only Taiwan’s private enterprise on the list, Foxconn Czech Republic Ranked 2nd in the Czech Republic Top 100 Companies, Foxconn Industrial Internet (Fii) listed on A shares in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
  • 2019 - Ranked 25th among Forbes Top 100 Digital Companies.
  • 2020 - Ranked 26th among Fortune Global 500 rankings

Foxconn - Future Plans

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has announced intentions to develop its embryonic cars sector to counteract decreasing growth in its main consumer electronics assembly industry. Foxconn however has no plans to sell these vehicles under its own brand but will manufacture them for other car brands.

The firm unveiled its first electric vehicle chassis as well as a software platform geared at assisting EV manufacturers in bringing models to market more quickly. The business also stated that by 2024, it intends to develop a solid-state battery that may replace lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles.

As told by Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, the business is aiming for a 10% share of the EV market by 2025, with roughly 3 million vehicles utilizing its platform.

Hon Hai said earlier this year that it will form a joint venture in China with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to develop and manufacture electric vehicles. It's also forming an electric car design cooperation with the Yulon group's Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center. Tesla Inc. presently receives certain components from the Taiwanese firm.

By 2025, the company hopes to increase its gross margin to 10% through automotive and other new operations.

Foxconn - FAQs

What does Foxconn do?

Foxconn Technology is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer that specializes in computer, communications, and consumer electronics goods. Metal shells, structural components, thermal modules, and gaming console assembly goods are all available from the company.

When was Foxconn founded?

Terry Gou established Hon Hai in Taiwan in 1974.

What is the other name of the company Foxconn?

Foxconn is also known as Hon Hai.

Is Foxconn a Chinese company?

Yes. Foxconn, headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei City, Taiwan, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer.

Which companies do Foxconn compete with?

Jabil, Toshiba, NN LABS, TDK, and Celestica are among Foxconn's competitors.


Author: Sarika Anand

Source : https://startuptalky.com/foxconn-success-story/


Date : 2021-11-07T03:21:47.000Z

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