Foxconn confirms cyberattack on North American facilities

Taipei, May 13 (CNA) Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. on Tuesday confirmed a cyberattack targeting some of its North American facilities but said the affected factories were gradually returning to normal.

The company, known globally as Foxconn, said in a statement Tuesday night that its cybersecurity team "activated the response mechanism and implemented operational measures to ensure the continuity of production and delivery."

"The affected factories are currently resuming normal production," the company said.

Foxconn had previously described it as a "technical issue" when news of the cyberattack first surfaced.

The confirmation followed media reports of a large-scale IT system incident that recently broke out at the company's facility in Wisconsin, forcing a temporary shutdown of several production lines.

Media reports have identified the perpetrator as the Nitrogen ransomware group. The hackers claimed on the dark web that they breached Foxconn's network and taken 8 terabytes of data, including more than 11 million internal documents.

According to the reports, the leaked data may have included sensitive technical information linked to several major Foxconn clients, including Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Google LLC, Nvidia Corp. and Dell Technologies.

Nitrogen also posted a collection of what it said were sample files, meant to serve as proof of the attack.

While Foxconn acknowledged the attack and temporary disruptions to some production lines, it did not provide details on the scope of the breach or the nature of the compromised data.

Foxconn first announced plans to invest in Wisconsin in 2017, initially proposing to build a large liquid crystal display (LCD) panel plant in Mount Pleasant.

The LCD plant never materialized, and neither did Foxconn's commitment to invest US$10 billion and create 13,000 jobs at the Wisconsin site.

The company now uses it as a base for high-end server production and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure development. As of late 2025, the company had invested US$2 billion there and created 1,500 jobs, it said.

In late 2025, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) approved a new four-year operational incentive plan, supporting Foxconn's continued expansion into AI and data security infrastructure in the region.