Foxconn to expand outside manufacturing with $390M telecom merger

Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company that manufactures gadgets for Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and others, aims to become a major force in Taiwan’s emergent market for 4G.

The gadget supplier will buy a stake worth $390 million in Asia Pacific Telecom, a Taiwanese mobile telecoms operator, reports Reuters. Foxconn will acquire 582.9 million shares in Asia Pacific, according to stock exchange filings. Asia Pacific intends to merge with a unit of Foxconn by June 20.

Foxconn previously won a license to operate part of Taiwan’s 4G spectrum, which is expected to become commercially available later this year.

Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers. It makes computers, mobile devices, and components for the world’s tech giants in factories spanning several countries (though its Vietnamese units ran into some trouble recently). In the last few years, Foxconn has started to expand into other areas, including cloud computing.