Hon Hai chief shows strong interest  in Toshiba chip business

March 2, 2017

GUANGZHOU- Terry Gou, chairman of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., on Wednesday showed strong interest in Toshiba Corp.’s semiconductor business, saying that his company is considering the possibility of investing in the division.

It will be possible for Hon Hai, as a user of Toshiba products and a partner, to offer management cooperation to and pump funds into the troubled Japanese electronics and machinery giant, he told reporters in Guangzhou, the capital of the southeastern China province of Guangdong.

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, can also market Toshiba products around the world, Gou said, adding that his company will work sincerely for a possible partnership with Toshiba. Hon Hai acquired strugglingJapanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. last year.

Toshiba, hit by a heavy loss from its nuclear power plant business in the United States, plans to spin off its profitable flash memory division and sell more than 50 pct of shares in the new firm, Toshiba Memory Corp.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc., US hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. and US investment fund Bain Capital are also believed to be interested in acquiring the Toshiba chip business.

On Wednesday, Gou attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a plant for large liquid crystal display panels in Guangzhou.

The factory, to be constructed through Sakai Display Products Corp., will mass-produce LCD panels for television sets capable of showing 8K ultrahigh images from 2019 using Sharp’s advanced technology.

Sakai Display Products, based in the city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, is jointly operated by Hon Hai and Sharp. Jiji Press