TAIWAN’S Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and Apple’s biggest iPhone assembler, on Monday (Feb 5) reiterated that it expected an on-year drop in first quarter revenue coming off a high base.

The first quarter is traditionally quieter than the previous one, the season when Taiwan’s tech companies race to supply smartphones, tablets and other electronics to major vendors such as Apple for Western markets’ year-end holiday period.

Foxconn said in a statement that overall operations in this year’s first quarter were “gradually entering the traditional off-peak season, and seasonal performance is expected to be similar to that of the past three years”.

It noted that in the first quarter of 2023, as factories resumed normal operations following the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing shipments led to a higher comparison base.

“The outlook for the first quarter of this year is expected to decrease year-on-year,” Foxconn said, reiterating previous guidance.

The company does not give numerical forecasts.

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Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, said revenue last month reached NT$522.1 billion (S$22.4 billion), which it said was the second-highest ever for the same period, the highest being the previous January.

That was up 13.5 per cent month on month, but down 20.9 per cent year on year.

Compared to the year-ago period, it said in January revenue for cloud and networking products increased significantly due to new customer product launches, but with personal computer demand slowing revenue fell slightly for computing products.

Foxconn chairman Liu Young-way said on Sunday he expects the company’s business this year to be “slightly better” than last year but is facing a shortage of chips for AI servers, where demand is booming.

Foxconn will report fourth quarter earnings on Mar 14, when it will also update its outlook.

Foxconn’s shares closed down 0.5 per cent on Monday ahead of the release of its January numbers, compared with a 0.2 per cent gain for the broader market. REUTERS