Foxconn founder steps down as CEO and asks Apple to manufacture in Taiwan

Foxconn founder steps down as CEO and asks Apple to manufacture in Taiwan

Just over two months ago, the executive Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn (one of Apple’s biggest suppliers), announced that he would step down from the company – which became official yesterday, at an annual Foxconn meeting.

Gou said that from now on, at 69 years of age, he will prepare for the presidential race of Taiwan, as informed by the Yahoo.

In addition to being CEO, Gou is also Foxconn’s largest shareholder and will therefore remain on the company’s board of directors. The company’s current head of semiconductor business, Young Liu, will assume the chairmanship of the chair while the company will also be chaired by committees.

Liu takes Foxconn’s helm at a delicate moment for the company in China (which, in fact, is the country’s largest private employer), due to the country’s infamous trade war with the United States. As we highlighted, the escalating tensions between the two powers will hurt Apple and much of the business of companies like Foxconn in China, mainly.

Manufacturing in Taiwan

Precisely because of the imbroglio between the USA and China, the founder of Foxconn asked Apple to transfer part of its extensive production chain from China to Taiwan, where Foxconn is headquartered.

Gou did not elaborate much on how these conversations with Apple went or how far, saying only that «he is asking Apple to move to Taiwan» and that such a change is «very possible», as disclosed by Bloomberg.

For some months now, we have commented that most Apple suppliers are looking to expand to countries other than China, in order to avoid US government tariffs on products manufactured in Chinese territory. Last week, even, the newly appointed president of the supplier said that the company already manages to produce enough iPhones outside of China.

However, the Bloomberg suggests that Gou’s request could be a double-edged sword for Foxconn, as a significant shift in the production of consumer goods from China to Taiwan (which Beijing sees as part of its territory) could exacerbate tensions between the two governments .

In fact, the board is hot not only for Apple as well as for almost its entire production line in China. It remains for us to continue to follow this case to see how the Cupertino giant and its partners intend to work around this complicated situation.