Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is to hold a sales meeting with Sharp Corp at Foxconn’s plant in Shenzhen, China, next Monday in an effort to help boost the sales of the Japanese company’s products worldwide, a top Hon Hai executive said yesterday.
“We plan to discuss sales in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India, China and Hong Kong during the meeting,” Hon Hai vice chairman Tai Cheng-wu (戴正吳) told reporters on the sidelines of a Sharp product demonstration event at one of Hon Hai’s factories in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城).
It is widely believed that Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is to personally host the sales meeting with Sharp’s top executives at the company’s Longhua manufacturing plant in Shenzhen.
Photo: CNA
Hon Hai has been attempting to help Sharp turn its operations around after the Taiwanese firm inked an agreement with Sharp on April 2 to strategically invest ￥388.8 billion (US$3.49 billion) in the Japanese company.
Hon Hai on Friday last week began a six-day demonstration of Sharp’s products at Hon Hai’s three factories in Tucheng, showcasing a series of Sharp’s latest white goods, such as an air purifier that catches mosquitoes.
Hon Hai employees were able to purchase the products at exclusively discounted prices and sales topped NT$1 million (US$30,921), Hon Hai consumer sales department manager and event organizer Onion Ding (丁洋中) told reporters.
The company plans to launch similar events at its plants in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, Ding said, adding that employees of Hon Hai’s panel subsidiary Innolux Corp (群創) could also take advantage of the discounts.
Hon Hai also plans to host similar events in its more than 30 manufacturing plants across China.
In an effort to boost Sharp’s sales, Tai said Hon Hai would also set up flagship stores for the Japanese firm at these 30 plants.
Tai said he and Sharp consumer electronics president Yoshisuke Hasegawa have been discussing the possibility of developing robotic devices for the mass market.
Robotic devices could have many applications in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) field, Tai said, adding that in his opinion IoT and smart devices are the future for Sharp.
In related news, Tai said Hon Hai plans to put forward a candidate to take over as Sharp’s president and chief executive officer at the beginning of next month.
“A decision will be made on May 12, and whether or not Sharp announce the decision in its general meeting for shareholders on June 23 will be up to the company,” Tai said.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
RSS