TAIPEI -- Foxconn's CEO today reiterated the company's commitment to China, announcing a multi-billion investment in a new factory for flat panel displays and underscoring the manufacturing environment there.
Terry Gou, Foxconn's founder and chief executive, said he would would invest $8.8 billion in a FPD campus in Guangzhou, leveraging its purchase of Sharp earlier this year. The investment will be made by Sakai Display Products, a company Gou owns the majority of and which Sharp has a minority interest in.
The new factory is expected to begin production in 2019.
The acquisition of Sharp was seen as strategic for Foxconn because of its experience in developing liquid-crystal displays, a technology prized by Apple, Foxconn's largest customer. Sakai will also make smart TVs and related products at the new site.
Gou said the manufacturing environment in China continues to best those of over nations, explicitly India, where it previously promised $5 billion in investments. That promise has yet to materialize.