Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn's India share in global assets hits 11%

From outside the top 5 to third place globally in two years, India now outpaces Taiwan, US, and Mexico

Taiwanese electronic manufacturing services giant Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group) has recorded its fastest global growth in India, with the country’s share of the company’s non-current global assets rising fourfold in just three years and more than doubling in the last two. Over the same period, however, its asset share in China has gradually slid.

 

According to global research by S&P Global Ratings, Hon Hai’s India share of global assets stood at just 2.6 per cent in 2022 — the year the production-linked incentive scheme for mobile devices was launched. This figure has since sharply risen to 10.8 per cent in 2024. The share more than doubled in just one year — from 4.5 per cent in 2023 to 10.8 per cent in 2024.

 

From not even being among the top five countries for Hon Hai in 2022, India has now climbed to the third spot globally, behind only China and Vietnam, while narrowing the gap with the latter. It has overtaken Taiwan, the US, and Mexico in terms of asset share.

 

In contrast, Hon Hai’s share of non-current assets in China has declined from 56.8 per cent in 2022 to 49.4 per cent in 2024. 

 

Non-current assets — also known as fixed or long-term assets — are resources that a company owns and expects to use for more than a year. These are not easily converted to cash and reflect long-term investments.

 

Hon Hai’s expansion in India, where it is now the largest vendor assembling iPhones for Apple Inc (accounting for over 60 per cent of total production), has played a key role. The company is also investing in backward integration by manufacturing components needed by its biggest global client. 

 

Geopolitical tensions between the US and China have also pushed Apple Inc and Hon Hai to shift iPhone production capacity from China to India.

 

India’s growing importance is gauged by the fact that Hon Hai’s share of non-current assets in Taiwan has dropped from 14.4 per cent in 2022 to just 7.5 per cent in 2024 — falling below India for the first time.

 

Vietnam’s story has been different.

 

Hon Hai was already well entrenched there before India, as Vietnam was the second-largest phone assembler globally. However, this lead shrank dramatically in 2023 when India began manufacturing iPhones at scale (Vietnam has not been given such a mandate by Apple).

 

The Indian market also benefits from booming domestic demand — valued at ₹67,000 crore in 2023-24 — unlike Vietnam. As a result, the gap between the two countries is now down to a few decimal points. Analysts say that by 2025, with Apple planning to double production in India over the next few years, Hon Hai’s India unit is likely to overtake its Vietnamese rival.