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Apple

iPhone supplier

Foxconn

unveiled plans to expand its U.S. electric-vehicle business this year, launching new products and manufacturing battery cells.

At the same time consumer electronics demand is softening, and Foxconn sees the segment performing worse this year than in 2022.

The tech company (ticker: 2317.Taiwan) said it is also eyeing the production of self-driving electric tractors and battery-replacement modules in the near future as it expects to grow EV revenue.

“We will build capacity for battery cells and battery packages for energy storage systems in Wisconsin, while we will also build capacity for battery packages for whole in our Ohio facility,” the company’s chairman, Young Liu, said during an investor call, Nikkei Asia reported.

The company, which produces 70% of global iPhone shipments, reported net profit of 40 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.31 billion) in the final three months of 2022, a 10% drop from the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting net income of 40.6 billion New Taiwan dollars, according to FactSet data. Revenue rose 4% to 1.963 trillion New Taiwan dollars, beating expectations.

Production at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory in China, the world’s largest iPhone plant, was disrupted ahead of the holiday period as protests hit operations.

Foxconn said it expects its consumer electronics performance to drop in 2023, compared with the previous year, according to the company’s full-year outlook. The operating outlook for the whole company is roughly flat, it said, with its cloud and networking, and computing products segments expected to perform better.

Last week, the company said revenue in February fell 11.6% from the previous year, which was Foxconn’s best ever February as demand for electronics softened. It cited “conservative customers’ pull-in” for declines in smart consumer electronics, cloud, and computing products revenue. 

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com