Hon Hai expands operations in India, Vietnam amid trade tensions

Taipei

KEY iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, is increasing its presence in Vietnam and India amid the growing trade spat between the US and China.

In a series of filings, the company said it had injected up to US$213.5 million into an Indian unit between September and January for "long-term investment", and is paying US$16.5 million to Fuhua Co Ltd for the right to use 250,000 square meters of land in an industrial park in Vietnam's north-eastern Bac Giang Province for operations and sales. Hon Hai now owns 99.99 per cent of the Indian unit, according to the filing.

While Hon Hai did not indicate the move was related to orders for Apple Inc, in a separate filing the Taiwanese manufacturer said it was selling on the Vietnamese land rights to a unit of Hong Kong-listed FIT Hon Teng, an iPhone cable and connector maker Foxconn controls.

Hon Hai doesn't make any iPhones in India, though its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary FIH Mobile assembles Xiaomi's handsets in the country.

Some Taiwanese hardware makers have been shifting production out of China back home and to other countries, thanks to new tariffs on networking equipment and server motherboards. None have indicated Apple has asked them to move manufacturing elsewhere, even though US President Donald Trump has threatened to eventually slap tariffs on all Chinese imports.

The manufacturers have repeatedly said they have existing operations in overseas locations where they can further transfer production if needed.

A Foxconn spokesman did not immediately provide details on the moves. BLOOMBERG