French President Macron thanks Hon Hai for semiconductor investment

Taipei/Paris, May 21 (CNA) French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries.

On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn, for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held Monday to attract foreign investment.

In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based Windrose.

Hon Hai announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the France-based Thales and Radiall to form a strategic partnership and establish a joint venture.

The venture will build France's first outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility, using fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) technology.

According to Hon Hai, this advanced packaging solution is aimed at serving the European market in sectors such as automotive, space science, 6G mobile technologies, and national defense.

In addition, Hon Hai signed another MOU with Thales to explore investment opportunities in the space industry. The partnership aims to develop high-quality, high-value satellite production for large telecommunications satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit.

Hon Hai estimates that the two projects will bring a total investment of 250 million euros to France.

In Taipei, Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu (吳志中) shared Macron's message on Facebook, stating that Taiwan was proud of Hon Hai's investment.

This marks the second-largest Taiwanese investment in France, following ProLogium Technology Co.'s announcement in May 2023 of a 5.2 billion euro investment to build a solid-state battery "gigafactory" in the northern French port city of Dunkirk.

Franck Paris, France's representative to Taiwan, said Tuesday that Hon Hai's investment has received strong support from the French government and is a positive development for France-Taiwan relations.

Meanwhile, Hon Hai spokesman James Wu (巫俊毅) said Wednesday in Taipei that its subsidiary, Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd. (FIT), had acquired a company in Africa. Hon Hai did not disclose details of the acquisition, its first venture on the continent.

Wu also noted that Hon Hai has received approval from the Indian government to establish a joint integrated circuit packaging and testing plant with HCL, with an investment of about NT$13.1 billion (US$434 million).

He added that Hon Hai will continue its global expansion to meet client demands and deliver competitive products and services.

The company currently operates 223 plants and offices across 24 countries, including 54 locations in the Americas, and 12 each in Europe and India.