Foxconn reveals its blueprint and will not enter the semiconductor manufacturing industry in the next few years

Foxconn has always been known in the public eye as a "contract manufacturer", but in recent years, it has been expanding its business and seeking transformation, hoping to tear off the label of "contract manufacturer".

At a recent legal conference, Foxconn CEO Liu Yangwei revealed his blueprint for Hon Hai's development in the next three to five years after taking office. He said that in the past, the group's main core technology was molds, but in recent years, due to more intense competition and a narrowing gap with competitors, they need to invest in new industries and accelerate the pace of transformation.

Taking gross profit increase as the standard, Liu Yangwei's vision is to achieve a gross profit target of 10% by 2025.

Foxconn2.0 has been promoted for two months, with more than 10,000 people participating and 1,500 supervisors needing to be retrained. They estimate that the 2.0 phase can increase gross profit by about 1%, and to achieve the 10% target, it depends on Foxconn3.0, the stage of transformation and upgrading.

However, Liu Yangwei emphasized that the company will not enter the semiconductor manufacturing industry in the next three to five years.

Regarding the research of 5G/6G, Foxconn has already fired the first shot, investing NT$10 billion in Asia Pacific Telecom's cash capital increase private placement. Liu Yangwei said that 5G construction will bring nearly 13 trillion business opportunities. The characteristics of 5G's increased speed, reduced latency, and wide coverage will make product applications more extensive and will greatly affect people's lives. Foxconn must not miss the opportunity of 5G.

As for 6G, which uses satellites as the basis for network construction, Liu Yangwei also believes that Foxconn has development advantages because they have already made arrangements in the field of satellite communications many years ago.

Regarding electric vehicles, Liu Yangwei said that they will not invest in the production of complete vehicles. The core of future development will focus on the establishment of electric vehicle-related modules and platforms. They also plan to cooperate with customers who manufacture electric vehicles, and may also invest in the development of electric vehicle chassis platforms.

As for semiconductor technology, Foxconn said it will not invest in the field of mobile phone processor chips, but will focus on semiconductor 3D packaging, panel-level packaging (PLP) and system-level packaging (SiP).

In terms of chip design, it will invest in the design and development of edge computing AI chips for the industrial Internet and 8K TV system-on-chips (SoCs), as well as power chips, panel driver chips, small control chips, and other small chips. In addition, in order to lay out digital medical care, chip design related to X-ray imaging is also a future development direction.

Looking ahead to the automotive layout, Liu Yangwei said that Hon Hai Group will not enter into vehicle production, but will mainly build platforms and related modules. The car manufacturing will establish platforms with relevant customers. He revealed that Hon Hai Group is developing chassis-related platforms.

Regarding the layout of wearable devices, Liu Yangwei said that the group will enter the field of smart wearable devices. He revealed that smart glasses have the opportunity to enter the group's product layout blueprint.