“Terry Gou, the founder of Apple supplier Foxconn, could be moving closer to defining his U.S. expansion strategy with a tighter grip on a key LCD maker just as friendly rival Masayoshi Son’s $50 billion American investment pledge begins to take shape,” Mariko Iwasaki reports for TheStreet.
“Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, raised its interest in Sakai Display Products, a unit of Japan’s Sharp, which it also owns, in a move that puts the Taiwanese components supplier one step closer to a transition into the end-products business,” Iwasaki reports. “Last week, Sharp said it will buy 56.7% in Cyprus-based Skytec UMC, a holding company which owns Slovakia-based Universal Media and UMC Poland, which are both involved in TV [set making] operations.”
“The move signifies comeback in the arena of TV making by Sharp, once a leading LCD TV maker which lost its momentum after badly-timed investments,” Iwasaki reports. “Foxconn has also publicly committed to U.S. expansion after Softbank’s Son was shown with papers bearing the Foxconn logo during a photo shoot with President elect Donald Trump on Dec. 6 in which the Japanese billionaire pledged to invest $50 billion and create 50,000 new jobs.”
“SoftBank’s promise appeared to take shape Wednesday when Trump told reporters outside his Florida estate that Sprint and satellite company OneWeb would create 8,000 new American jobs — ‘taking them back from other countries,'” Iwasaki reports. “Foxconn’s move to both control Sakai Display and direct a resurgence for Sharp in TV production by taking on Samsung could signal its ultimate ambitions in the U.S., where it has manufacturing sites in Virginia and Indiana and logistics operations in California and Texas.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And Apple CEO Tim Cook just happened to be spending part of his Christmas-New Year’s vacation in Manhattan.
Two of Apple’s most important partners are SoftBank (which owns ARM Holdings) and Apple product assembler Foxconn.
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