The Foxconn group, renowned as the world’s largest iPhone assembler, has completed a sale of its entire stake in the Chinese conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup, according to Reuters. The move marks a significant realignment of Foxconn’s holdings across Asia and underscores ongoing regulatory scrutiny of cross-border ownership within the tech sector.
The transaction traces back to Xingwei, a Foxconn subsidiary operating in China. It has emerged that Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd, a legal entity registered in China, directly controlled roughly 99 percent of Xingwei, laying out a complex corporate chain behind the stake transfer. This structure drew attention from Taiwan authorities once the ownership was revealed, prompting a formal request for Foxconn to relinquish these assets to eliminate any perceived influence linked to Beijing’s strategic interests.
Officials in Taiwan clarified that Foxconn did not initially obtain government approval before its investment in the Chinese conglomerate. A source cited by Reuters described the move as a breach of the island’s regulatory framework governing relations with mainland China, highlighting the sensitivity of cross-strait corporate ties and the potential political implications of such investments.
Foxconn disclosed that the stake in Tsinghua Unigroup was sold to Yantai Haixiu, a Chinese company, for no less than 5.38 billion yuan, equivalent to about 772 million U.S. dollars. The deal aligns with broader moves by multinational manufacturers to adjust cross-border exposure amid evolving economic and regulatory landscapes.
Tsinghua Unigroup remains a pivotal player in several strategic sectors for Chinese authorities, including Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), a key flash memory producer, and UNISOC Communications, the mobile processor developer. The ownership changes thus carry potential implications for the control and direction of these critical technology assets.
In a separate development connected to Foxconn’s global expansion plans, there have been prior reports of substantial investments intended to support manufacturing in India. Specific plans outlined earlier included a multi-hundred-million-dollar commitment designed to establish new production lines for iPhone devices and iPad tablets, reinforcing Foxconn’s role in diversifying its global manufacturing footprint and reducing over-reliance on any single market. Reuters has tracked these investment movements, noting their potential to reshape regional supply chains and employment opportunities across the Indian subcontinent and beyond.