Hai-Ya! iPhone Maker Hon Hai Invests Big in India

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the manufacturer of iPhones, intends to increase its presence in India by investing an additional NT$50 billion ($1.6 billion) in construction projects.

The announcement in a stock exchange filing late Monday in Taiwan did not provide further details, saying only that the investment was for “operational needs.” The company’s spokesperson declined to say where the new facilities would be or what they would be built for.

The news comes as Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, and other Taiwanese electronics makers continue to diversify their businesses outside of China amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

About half of Foxconn’s turnover comes from business with Apple Inc. The company has been manufacturing iPhones and other products in India for several years, including the latest iPhone 15. In September, Foxconn’s representative in India said on LinkedIn that the Taiwanese company plans to double its business across the South Asian country.

The government of the Indian state of Karnataka announced in August that Foxconn planned to invest $600 million in two component factories in the southern Indian state. It included a factory that makes mechanical cases for iPhones and a semiconductor device factory that works together with Applied Materials Inc., the government said at the time.

The two projects are on top of a $700 million facility that Foxconn plans to build on a 300-hectare (121-acre) site near the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, Bloomberg News previously reported. That factory probably assembles iPhones.

It was not immediately clear whether the latest investment announcement covers those or led projects.

Foxconn already has nine production campuses and more than 30 factories that employ tens of thousands of people in India, where it collects an annual turnover of about 10 billion dollars.