ICT makers, as compared with traditional automakers and software startups, have advantages in the development of electric vehicles (EVs), according to Young-Way Liu, chairman of Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai).
Traditional automakers have advantages in manufacturing technology and capability, but their supply chains are relatively closed and therefore have been significantly impacted by the pandemic, Liu said.
Many software startups hope to use software to define EVs in the process of developing the vehicles, but they forget that software must be run on hardware platforms, Liu noted. Software is unlike hardware, Liu said, citing the production of molds as an example that entails much time, technology and experience from development to finished products.
Software developers lack experience in hardware, and how to solve problems regarding hardware and supply chains poses serious challenges to such software startups, Liu explained.
ICT makers have two general advantages in developing and producing EVs: they have vertical supply chains and much experience in ecosystem management; and they have years of engineering capability and abundant manpower, Liu said.
The manpower has been dedicated to developing components and products in high-tech segments, from PCs to smartphones to servers, Liu noted. As the global PC and handset markets have seen slow growths or stagnancy, 30% of the manpower can be shifted to the EV sector, Liu indicated.
However, ICT makers lack experience in making cars, and to solve the problem, Foxconn has launched a software/hardware-integrated EV development platform to let ICT makers realize their innovations in EVs catering to certain groups of users, Liu indicated.
Foxconn has announced that its China-based subsidiary Foxconn Technology has signed a strategic a cooperation framework agreement with China-based EV startup Byton to help the latter realize production of M-Byte, its first EV model, by the end of 2021.
Foxconn Technology will provide advanced manufacturing technology, operational management experience and resources concerning supply chains for Byton's EV factory. The cooperation is expected to give momentum to Foxconn's development of EV components.
Foxconn chairman Young-Way Liu
Photo: Michael Lee, Digitimes, January 2021
Article translated by Adam Hwang
