Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics manufacturer, is moving ahead with building a $8.8 billion factory in China.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou partnered with Guangdong Province officials for building a new flat-panel screen factory. The officials of the province said that the deal negotiation with Foxconn only took 50 days.
According to Gou, Foxconn was also bidding to acquire the flash memory chip unit of Toshiba Corp. Analysts expect the computer-chip unit of Toshiba to fetch $20 billion or more.
Toshiba previously said that it wants to close the sale of its flash-memory business as soon as possible in the next fiscal year. Its spokeswoman declined to comment on Gou's statement.
The Guangzhou plan and the Toshiba bid are part of Foxconn's efforts in becoming a consumer brand that makes key components for itself and others. The company acquired Sharp last year, making it its first major consumer brand.
Jacob Chen, the vice chairman of Foxconn, said: "Foxconn expects to use the high-definition flat-panels from the Guangzhou plant primarily for large-screen TVs for the Sharp brand it acquired last year. China is Sharp’s largest TV market, and sales have grown several-fold after Foxconn began a marketing push last November on China’s annual sales holiday."
Sine acquiring sharp, Foxconn struck deals with Youku Tudou and iQiyi to make smart TVs. According to Chen, the company is still working on a deal with Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Gou is still hoping to build a $7 billion flat-panel plant in the U.S. as it welcomed pitches from state governments. He said: "The U.S. must offer tax breaks and develop worker-training programs - and also study how things are done in China."
"We feel that if any state governments in the U.S. want to attract Foxconn, they should come here to learn and study. To see how in such a short span of time, we can get so many things done here," he added.