Foxconn anticipates better financial performance in 2024

Foxconn financial performance: Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, the primary assembler for Apple's iPhones and the world's leading contract electronics manufacturer, anticipates a marginally improved performance this year compared to the previous year. Despite a successful year in 2023, Foxconn faced challenges, including a significant first-quarter write-off associated with its 34 per cent stake in Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp.

Chairman Liu Young-way acknowledged the company's resilience in the face of the first-quarter setback and expressed a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2024 during a press briefing at the annual employee party in Taipei. Foxconn had previously communicated a "relatively conservative and neutral" perspective for the current year in November.

Liu highlighted the demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers as a positive factor for the company but cautioned about the potential impact of global economic uncertainty arising from geopolitical issues on consumer product demand. He acknowledged the complexity of the market dynamics, stating, "One market segment will be good, but very many others - uh-oh."

Addressing the industry-wide shortage of chips for servers, Liu emphasised the limited production capacity and suggested the need for new factories to meet the growing demand. This comes amid Apple's recent announcement of a decline in iPhone sales and an overall revenue projection of $6 billion below Wall Street expectations, partly attributed to challenges in the Chinese market.

Foxconn is set to release its fourth-quarter earnings next month, providing further insights into its financial performance and an updated outlook for the year ahead. The company's shares have experienced a 2.4 per cent decline since the beginning of the year, contrasting with the broader market's 0.7 per cent gain.

(With Reuters inputs)