Apple iPhone Assembler Invests in China’s Ride-Hailing Didi Chuxing
Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, said Thursday that a subsidiary had invested $119.9 million in Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing Technology Co.
Foxconn unit Forteq Holdings Inc. has acquired a 0.36% stake in Didi, the Taiwanese company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The deal values Didi at about $33 billion, higher than the nearly $28 billion valuation that the company received in June when investors including Apple bet $4.5 billion in a new financing round.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the Foxconn investment was related to Apple’s. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , is Apple’s largest assembler of iPhones.
Both Foxconn and Apple have been seeking to expand into the smart automobile business and other emerging sectors as they face a saturated global smartphone market.
Foxconn has made other auto-related investments in the past, including a partnership with China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. to make electric cars. -WSJ
