As we all know, Foxconn and Apple used to be "iron buddies".
During the glory days of his early years, Cook assigned almost all iPhone OEM orders to Foxconn, which also allowed the latter to gain nicknames such as Apple's "Queen's Processing Factory" and "Private Back Garden". After all, in the early years, Guo Taiming relied on The huge profits made from Apple orders not only allowed Foxconn to sit firmly in the top spot in China's OEM industry, but also earned itself the crown of the richest man.
It is no exaggeration to say that even an order from Apple alone is enough for Foxconn to eat and wear. Perhaps it is because of this that Terry Gou despised the Chinese market even more, and even issued an arrogant statement of "giving food to the mainland" . However, in recent days, Guo Taiming has been under more and more pressure, and he is no longer arrogant and high-profile in his actions, because now his "job bowl" has been robbed.
The relationship between Foxconn and Apple originated in the 1970s. The US manufacturing industry was unable to afford the high cost of local labor and water and electricity resources, so it began a large-scale relocation of industries, and Apple was one of them. Then Foxconn reached a long-term cooperative relationship with Apple to undertake the latter's complete machine assembly business. As Apple's "cake" grew bigger and bigger, Foxconn also ushered in a golden period of development.
As the world's largest electronics foundry, Foxconn has a global workforce of 1.2 million. In terms of hardware equipment and industrial chain, it is difficult for other companies to stand shoulder to shoulder with it.
However, as the global smartphone market cools down, Cook has increasingly advocated diversification in recent years, and has repeatedly initiated "de-centralization". He is determined to let his production lines reproduce the "Made in China" economic miracle in Southeast Asia . Gou, the founder of Foxconn who followed Apple to make a fortune and grow up, also chose to follow his pace. He not only invested one billion to build a factory in India, but also announced that he would gradually withdraw 300 billion production capacity from China in the next few years!
However, what Guo Taiming didn't expect was that when he gave up the mainland market in order to please Apple, Cook never regarded him as "one of his own". Part of the old model business, which also makes Guo Taiming a little restless.
Faced with a series of cut orders, Guo Taiming tried to find other outlets for wealth, but it was a pity that he hit a wall everywhere. In 2020, he went to Silicon Valley to visit a number of biotech companies specializing in "suppressing old technology". Hong Kong superman Li, who came back from the market, has already started to invest 200 million through his investment bank in an American company that produces "Wright Key" products, hoping to achieve both time and wealth.
Different from Foxconn's main foundry business, Superman Li is optimistic about such cell revitalization products, which have higher technical and industrial thresholds. According to an academic document published by Harvard Medical School in the sub-journal "Nature", the aging of organisms The root cause lies in the accumulation of damaged cells in the body, and "Wright-key" substances have the potential to revitalize the physiological functions of mammals and prolong the life cycle. After half a year of tasting, Superman Li also felt delighted that he seemed to have returned to his youth. hour.
According to foreign media research, for an Apple mobile phone priced at nearly 10,000 yuan, the assembly profit that domestic foundries can get is basically no more than 50 yuan. Even so, it still attracts the public to flock to it. According to the data from JD.com and Tianmong Business Intelligence, within one year of entering the domestic market, related products have generated 5.1 billion market segment revenues, of which nearly 70% come from middle-class families in first- and second-tier cities.
Guo Taiming, who was unwilling to follow Apple to earn "hard money", wanted to take this opportunity to stand up, but he missed the opportunity again because of his arrogance. Turning around, the iPhone Pro series standard models no longer have exclusive OEM rights. According to market news, Apple took out 27% of the order volume that originally belonged to Foxconn, and handed it over to Luxshare Precision and Pegatron at a ratio of 15% and 12% respectively.
It is worth noting that Pegatron had a cooperative relationship with Apple as early as 1999. However, in 2012, due to production efficiency issues, the relationship between the two companies cracked. Part of the production share, I don't know if Pegatron can seize this opportunity to turn around and challenge Foxconn's "OEM boss" status?
At once, 27% of Apple's orders were split by two Chinese manufacturers. Guo Taiming said that it is impossible not to worry. Don't look at him and Foxconn who have been "saddle before and after" for Apple and received soft orders for Apple over the years, but in fact its gross profit margin is still low. Less than one-tenth, the scenery is only on the surface.
The market value is as huge as Apple, and everyone knows that they are prepared for danger in times of peace. As a supplier of Apple for many years, Terry Gou does not know how to diversify risks. This also conveys a warning to other Chinese companies: Do not have any illusions for foreign companies. Only by mastering core technologies can you get rid of being controlled by others Dilemma!