Hon Hai unveils 3 new EV models at annual Tech Day

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. introduced three new reference electric vehicle models at its annual Hon Hai Tech Day on Friday, showcasing its ambitions to claim a higher share in the global EV market through product diversification.

The three EV models shown at the event were sport utility vehicle (SUV) Model A+ and Model K+ as well as small-sized truck Model K, while Hon Hai also demonstrated a right-hand drive version of its earlier urban car Model B.

Hon Hai's chief strategy officer for EV operations, Jun Seki said that Hon Hai had introduced a total of 12 models since unveiling its first EV prototype six years earlier

According to Hon Hai, while the earlier Model A targeted the growing global SUV market, Model A+ is a value-added prototype with a luxury design to differentiate it from Model A, eyeing a different customer segment.

Model K+ is designed to cater to younger consumers with a relatively affordable price and a unique design, while Model K has multiple purposes such as deliveries and disaster prevention, targeting car developers focused on carbon emissions reduction and users in government agencies, Hon Hai said.

Meanwhile, Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn globally, has also extended its operations to focus on artificial intelligence business opportunities and showed off its technology muscle at Tech Day, noting that production of its AI racks doubled over the past year.

Addressing the opening of the event, which was the largest in its seven-year history, Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said the company has expanded its production lines from Asia to North America and integrated cross-border manufacturing to push up AI rack production and tap the current global AI boom.

Liu said the number of AI racks rolled out by Hon Hai has doubled from the previous level of 1,000 units, while its manufacturing capability also allowed the company to improve its products through advances in technologies in Level 11 (rack integration) and Level 12 (cluster integration), the top two technology levels in AI rack production.

In addition, Hon Hai's automation efforts have allowed Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) technologies to enter commercial use, Liu said.

Hon Hai is a highly vertically integrated system design and manufacturing service company, Liu added, noting that over the past 50 years, the company has provided customers with one-stop comprehensive solutions, from system design and key component layout to system assembly, hardware and software integration, and global logistics service.

The company has a workforce of about 1 million, including 122,000 engineers with about 78,000 involved in system design engineering and 43,000 in electronic component production, Liu said.

It has also secured 2,492 patents globally and provides a wide range of services to its customers, he added.

Hon Hai, one of American AI chip designer Nvidia's suppliers, currently has a more than 40 percent share of the global ICT and electronic manufacturing services market, Liu said, citing the latest data that shows the company has over 240 production campuses worldwide.