Taiwan’s Foxconn eager to expand satellite business

台灣富士康渴望拓展衛星業務

Foxconn wants to develop satellites similar to its push into EV sector

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese contract electronics maker Foxconn is looking to expand its satellite business, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday (Dec. 19).

It developed two experimental satellites in conjunction with National Central University that were launched on a SpaceX rocket from California last month. The Pearl-1H and Pearl-1C both weigh around 9 kg and are fitted with high-speed telecommunications equipment and circle the planet in low Earth orbit at around 520 km every 96 minutes, according to the report.

The two satellites are intended for communications experiments and space exploration over the next year, Nikkei Asia cited Foxconn Chair Young Liu (劉揚偉) as saying. Liu added that if those go according to plan, testing for applications like car communications will follow.

As the global space industry continues to grow, Foxconn sees an entry point through satellite internet service. By 2030, there will be around 17,350 low Earth orbit satellites, according to the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) in Taipei.

Foxconn wants to develop satellites using an approach similar to its move into the electric vehicle (EV) sector, where it has developed an EV platform and then tries to secure manufacturing contracts from several clients and lower costs through mass production.

The company is also hoping for synergies between communications satellites and its EVs. Because satellites can provide connectivity in mountainous and remote areas, they can be paired with autonomous driving and connected car technologies being developed by Foxconn’s EV tech consortium MIH, per Nikkei Asia.

Assembling iPhones is a main driver of Foxconn’s annual revenue of around US$200 billion (NT$6.28 trillion), but its net profit margin hovers around 1-2%, due to factors including sluggish growth in the smartphone sector, so it is eager to find new streams of revenue, the report added.