Apple supplier Foxconn breaks ground on electric vehicle plant in China's Zhengzhou city

Foxconn Technology Group, which runs the world's largest iPhone factory in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, has started building a "trial" electric vehicle (EV) plant there, as it aims to replicate its success as Apple's top smartphone contractor when it comes to cars and other products. The company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, on Tuesday held a groundbreaking ceremony for an "trial manufacturing centre" for electric vehicles in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, the provincial government announced on its website. The EV production centre will cater to "well-known domestic and foreign automobile brands", with the goal of building the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, where Foxconn's biggest iPhone factory is based, into a "core production base for Foxconn's new energy vehicle segment", the Taiwanese company said in a social media post on Wednesday. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Employees during lunch hour at a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, Jan.

6, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Employees during lunch hour at a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, Jan. 6, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg> A day earlier, Foxconn reaffirmed its commitment in the region by signing a strategic partnership with the provincial government, during which company chairman and chief executive Liu Young-way said Foxconn "attaches great importance to the cooperation with Henan" and promises to "continuously be rooted and ploughing deeply in Henan," according to the provincial government's statement. Henan provincial governor Wang Kai said the government "highly values Foxconn's development in the region" and expects the company to "further expand its industrial layout" and "keep opening up to new sectors" there.

The relationship between the two parties has not always been stable. Foxconn's production activity in Zhengzhou suffered major disruptions in 2022 after a Covid-19 outbreak led to mass walkouts and worker protests over stringent pandemic controls and wages. The debacle caused shipment delays for the iPhone during that year's holiday season in Apple's home market as well as Europe, prompting the Californian giant to accelerate the shift of some production outside China, to areas including India and Vietnam. Story continues Young Liu (centre), chairman and chief executive officer of Foxconn Technology Group. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Young Liu (centre), chairman and chief executive officer of Foxconn Technology Group.

Photo: Bloomberg> EVs are part of Foxconn's "new business", which also includes semiconductors and robotics, to diversify revenue sources. Last April, the company picked Zhengzhou as the headquarters for its new businesses, with plans for a 70,000-square-metre complex with an investment of 1 billion yuan (US$137 million). It established the Foxconn New Business Development Group in Zhengzhou in June 2023, with registered capital of 1 billion yuan, to conduct business in EV sales and battery production. Another company, Foxconn New Energy Vehicle Industry Development (Henan) Co, was established in January with a registered capital of 500 million yuan. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century.

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