The world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn has announced that it plans to invest the $4.3bn it raised from a listing of one of its units in Shanghai into ambitious and innovative AI, 5G and Internet of Things projects.
Foxconn, which is headquartered in Taiwan is one of Apple’s major suppliers. Reports emerging from Taiwan have claimed that shareholders approved a proposal to list its subsidiary Foxconn Industrial Internet business on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in an effort to raise capital for the new initiatives on 5G, AI and Internet of Things.
In addition to this, it was disclosed that the subsidiary’s listing prospectus which was filed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission on February 9th declared that the new projects would focus their attentions on developing smart manufacturing platforms and cloud computing services. However, the prospectus declined to disclose share pricing or the number of shares that will be listed.
Foxconn Industrial Internet manufactures a diverse range of products that include electronic devices, cloud service equipment and industrial robots. Financial filings indicate that it generated a net profit of CNY16.2 billion in 2017, which represented an increase of up to 6.3% from the previous fiscal year.
However, South China Morning Post has reported that at an annual employee gathering earlier this month, Foxconn chairman, Terry Gou told staff that the organization had a significant amount of work to do over the next two years to adapt to the ever-evolving changes in the manufacturing sector in order to make it a more influential force in the global technology industry.
Gou stated that the company will expand investments in AI, automation and Internet of Things to position it even more centrally in the tech supply chain.