Foxconn Starts Building a Plant for Electric-Vehicle Batteries in Taiwan

There, Foxconn will produce lithium iron phosphate batteries, a kind of battery technology touted by

Tesla Inc.

Foxconn plans to test production of those battery cells at the plant in early 2024, it said.

Best known as the biggest contract assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, Foxconn has been trying to expand into the electric-vehicle industry in recent years to improve its profit margins.

Foxconn Chairman

Young Liu

said the company wants to build an electric-car-battery supply chain in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s place in the world’s economy—already boosted by its dominance in the global semiconductor supply chain—could be further improved if it developed a battery supply chain, local industry executives have said.

“We hope to localize Taiwan’s battery supply chain, from the upstream materials, to the midstream cells and the downstream packs,” Mr. Liu said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Last year, Foxconn introduced EV prototypes, which it designed together with a Taiwanese car maker. In March, it started to deliver electric buses designed by a Foxconn-led open platform.

Foxconn is also building electric-car manufacturing bases overseas. It acquired the Ohio factory of cash-strapped electric-vehicle maker

Lordstown Motors Corp.

, while in Indonesia, it is developing electric-vehicle and battery-cell production plants jointly with Taiwanese electric-scooter maker

Gogoro Inc.

Foxconn aims to supply three million electric vehicles annually by 2027, Mr. Liu has said—which he estimated would be about 10% of the global market then.

Foxconn’s moves come as its biggest customer, Apple, also pursues its car ambitions. Apple has been considering producing its own cars, The Wall Street Journal has reported, while at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the company said it is working with car makers to expand capabilities of its car-connectivity system CarPlay.

Write to Yang Jie at [email protected]