Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) plans to invest NT$25 billion (US$821.13 million) in Kaohsiung over the next three years, the company and the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday.
The two sides signed a letter of intent at a ceremony at the Kaohsiung Software Park, attended by Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉), the city said in a statement.
Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and Apple Inc’s most important iPhone assembler, plans to establish the company’s Southern Taiwan service center, along with an international research and training center, in the city’s Asia New Bay Area (亞洲新灣區), the statement said.
Photo: Ge You-hao, Taipei Times
Hon Hai is also set to work with Kaohsiung to develop a comprehensive plan for smart cities, to be based on the company’s smart city platform, CityGPT, the company said in a separate statement.
“Kaohsiung has a port, an airport and vast outlying terrain. The planned infrastructure will make the smart city initiative complete,” Liu said in the statement.
The three-year, NT$25 billion investment is expected to create 2,000 jobs, the company said.
Hon Hai operates manufacturing facilities in the city’s Ciaotou Science and Technology Park (橋頭科學園區) and Ho Fa Industrial Park (和發產業園區) that make electric buses and batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
An electric bus plant in the Ciaotou park is expected to begin mass production in 2025, initially producing 500 units per year, Hon Hai said.
The company plans to raise the figure to 1,000 by 2028, mainly for the domestic market, it added.
Hon Hai’s plant for lithium iron phosphate EV batteries in Ho Fa Industrial Park is expected to mass produce 1.2 gigawatt-hours of energy in the third quarter of next year, it said.
The company is expanding its EV business as it seeks to diversify its revenue base and to rely less on consumer electronics, which have contributed to a fall in gross margin.
Hon Hai and Kaohsiung, the first city to use Hon Hai’s Model T electric buses, have been discussing smart city initiatives for more than a year.
Hon Hai’s Asia New Bay Area investment plan follows several other firms such as Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), IBM Corp, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) and AUO Corp (友達) in efforts to increase investment in Kaohsiung, as the government aims to accelerate the city’s development of 5G, artificial intelligence of things, information technology and digital industries.
Investments in the Asia New Bay Area reached about NT$15.4 billion at the end of last year, and generated an output value of NT$32.7 billion, the Kaohsiung government said.
Hon Hai’s new investment pledges came after founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) announced on Wednesday last week that he is seeking to be the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee for next year’s national election.
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
REBUFFED: In response to Chinese criticism over recent arms sales, Washington urged Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue instead of threats and intimidation Washington’s long-term commitment to Taiwan would not change, the US Department of State said yesterday, urging Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan and engage in meaningful bilateral dialogues. The remarks came in response to a backlash from Beijing about Washington’s latest approval of arms sales to Taiwan. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement on Wednesday that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US has asked to purchase an arms package, including Tactical Mission Network Software; AH-1W helicopter spare and repair parts; M109A7 self-propelled howitzers; HIMARS long range precision strike systems; tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles; Javelin
RSS