At its Tech Day 2025 event, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) introduced a new slogan, “Foxconn Inside,” underscoring its shift from contract assembly toward manufacturing core components—particularly batteries. Onstage, an electric truck equipped with a newly mass-produced lithium iron phosphate battery containing 104 cells demonstrated a range of 360 kilometers on a single charge. Development of this battery took three years.
The company’s EV battery center, operational since March, is among Taiwan’s most automated facilities. Approximately 85% of the assembly process is handled by machines, with human operators in cleanroom suits overseeing high-speed lamination of thin silver and black layers. To date, the plant has produced roughly 80,000 cells—enough for about 200 electric buses—and has an annual capacity of 0.6 gigawatt-hours, equivalent to batteries for 10,000 electric cars. Hon Hai plans to double that capacity to 1.2 gigawatt-hours.
This year’s output will supply the ET35 electric vehicle, while batteries for electric buses are in the final testing phase. One customer is Foxtron, a joint venture between Hon Hai and Yulon Motor focused on electric cars and buses.
Key to Hon Hai’s mass-production progress is a team of veteran battery specialists who returned from roles in China. Since 2019, under Chairman Young Liu’s leadership, the company has invested in battery materials, established a research institute in Toufen, and built the Ho Fa plant as a manufacturing hub. Managers on the team each have at least 20 years of industry experience. To address local talent shortages, Hon Hai has retrained information and communications technology engineers to support its battery management system development, growing staff at the Ho Fa center from fewer than 100 to 400 within three years.
Leveraging a vertically integrated supply chain, over 80% of the materials for its 230-ampere-hour commercial car batteries are sourced domestically from partners including Long Time Technology, Giga Solar Materials, and China Steel Chemical. This control enables customized cell designs that won the ET35 order. Looking ahead, Hon Hai aims to expand into overseas markets—India is viewed as a promising destination because of its growing electric two-wheeler and energy storage sectors and Hon Hai’s established relationships through local electronics assembly.
Source: CommonWealth Magazine
