TAIWAN’S Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and a major Apple supplier, on Tuesday (Dec 5) raised its outlook for the fourth quarter on strong year-end sales for the holiday peak season.

The fourth quarter is traditionally the hot season for Taiwan’s tech companies as they race to supply smartphones, tablets and other electronics to major vendors such as Apple for the year-end holiday period in Western markets.

Foxconn said in a statement that with the second half of the year being the traditional peak season for the tech industry, revenue performance in the first two months of the fourth quarter had been slightly higher than expected.

“Therefore, the outlook for the fourth quarter should be better than the original guidance for ‘significant growth’”, the company added, without elaborating.

Foxconn does not provide exact numerical guidance.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, said revenue last month reached NT$650 billion (S$27.6 billion), the second highest on record for the month and up 18 per cent year-on-year, though down 12.3 per cent from October.

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Revenue in its smart consumer electronics products, including smartphones, saw strong year-on-year growth last month but that came off a low base as last year its main iPhone production base in China’s Zhengzhou was dealing with Covid-related restrictions.

The company is the Apple’s biggest iPhone assembler.

For components and other products, revenue in November showed strong year-on-year growth “due to increasing allocations in smart consumer electronics products and rising shipments in auto components”, it added.

Foxconn last month logged a surprise 11 per cent increase in third-quarter profit, helped by gains in non-operating income but predicted revenue would fall slightly for the year.

Foxconn’s Taipei-listed shares closed flat on Tuesday ahead of the release of its November sales, compared with a 0.5 per cent drop for the broader market. REUTERS