Foxconn paid ¥388.8bn ($3.81bn) for a 66% stake in loss-making Sharp, in a deal that took longer to come together than initially expected.
When Foxconn – best known for its work assembling Apple’s iPhones – announced its intention to buy Sharp earlier this year, many analysts believed Sharp’s venerable PV business could soon be on the chopping block.
In May, however, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou published a letter insisting that such speculation could not be “further from the truth”, expressing ambitions for solar, battery storage and home energy-management services.
“We are totally committed to this business,” Gou wrote, adding that Foxconn is “particularly impressed with and proud of” the array of “rich technologies and intellectual properties amassed by Sharp’s solar business over the years”.
“We plan to leverage Foxconn’s production technology and all available resources to further strengthen the competitiveness of the solar business at Sharp, after the completion of the [acquisition].”
Sharp has been in the solar business for more than half a century, and was the world’s largest supplier of PV modules between 2001-2007, the longest stretch any one company has held the title.
By 2010, however, it had fallen well behind Chinese rivals like Suntech and Yingli, and fell off the top 10 list entirely in 2013.
Reviving the fortunes of Sharp’s solar unit will require Foxconn to boost the company’s presence in key markets outside Japan, upon which it has been heavily reliant.
After growing by more than 500% between 2012-15, Japan’s solar market is set to cool down over the next few years, with India likely to supplant it as the world’s third largest market.
