Key Iphone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry, known as Foxconn Technology Group, has paid US$16.5 million to Fuhua Company for the right to use 250,000 square meters of land in an industrial park in Vietnam’s northeastern Bac Giang province for operation and sales, Bloomberg reported.
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While Hon Hai did not indicate the move was related to orders for Apple Inc., in a separate filing the Taiwanese manufacturer said it was selling on the Vietnamese land rights to a unit of Hong Kong-listed FIT Hon Teng, an iPhone cable and connector maker Foxconn controls.
Some Taiwanese hardware makers have been shifting production out of China back home and to other countries, thanks to new tariffs on networking equipment and server motherboards. None have indicated Apple has asked them to move manufacturing elsewhere, even though U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to eventually slap tariffs on all Chinese imports.
The manufacturers have repeatedly said they have existing operations in overseas locations where they can further transfer production if needed.
A Foxconn spokesman did not immediately provide details on the moves.
Another Taiwanese tech-company Asus also pondered a relocation of its Chinese production capacities to Vietnam, due to high tariffs imposed by the US on China-made goods, according to AandTech website last November.
Previously, a survey of companies from both US and China, published by the Guangzhou-based American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in South China, showed that most survey participants are looking at shifting production, assemblying or sourcing of supplies to third countries, with Southeast Asia as the leading choice.
Some companies are already putting such plans into motion. Panasonic, for example, is moving production of car electronics from China to Thailand, Malaysia and Mexico. China's GoerTek, which assembles wireless earphones for Apple, has notified suppliers that it intends to relocate some of its production to Vietnam. Chinese polyester producer Zhejiang Hailide New Material is investing US$155 million in a factory in Vietnam with an eye toward US exports.
