(Bloomberg) — Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. is open to buying Renault SA’s stake in Nissan Motor Co., a move that may offer the struggling Japanese carmaker a lifeline.
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The Taiwanese company has approached both Japanese carmakers about potential cooperation, Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of a company event.
Apple Inc.’s main production partner had previously considered picking up the French firm’s 36% slice of Nissan. Hon Hai, for years the largest manufacturer of iPhones and electronics for global brands, has been venturing into newer arenas such as electric vehicles to offset stalling smartphone sales.
The company, known also as Foxconn, had adopted a wait-and-see attitude while Honda Motor Co. and Nissan worked out a potential tie-up, Bloomberg News has reported. The pair are now thinking of ending that plan. Nissan’s shares briefly pared losses in Tokyo Wednesday following Liu’s comments, before resuming their slide.
“If there’s an operational need, we will consider it,” Liu told reporters when Bloomberg News asked if Foxconn would buy Renault’s stake in Nissan. “But buying the stake isn’t our goal — our goal is cooperation.”
Over the past year, Hon Hai has benefited from a surging demand for the Nvidia Corp. servers that power AI development. But in EVs, the world’s largest contract electronics maker has been unable to gain a sure footing.
“From Hon Hai’s point of view, it is not a merger case but a partnership,” Liu said when asked about a possible merger with Nissan. “How can we partner with Japanese automakers? We met with many companies and Nissan and Honda are among them.”
–With assistance from Debby Wu and Nicholas Takahashi.
(Updates with executive comment from the fourth paragraph.)
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