Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics manufacturing and services company, has expanded its energy storage portfolio once again, this time focusing on the burgeoning solid-state battery sector.
Recently, Hon Hai Technology Group officially announced that its subsidiary, Foxconn Group, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Henan Provincial Government. The plan includes establishing a new business division in Zhengzhou to accelerate the development of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, digital health, and robotics industries, while building a global high-end manufacturing supply chain and strategic emerging industrial ecosystem in Henan.
Foxconn Group entered Zhengzhou, Henan, in 2010. In March 2023, Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Liu Young-way promised to recreate a new Foxconn in Henan. The following month, the new business headquarters of Foxconn was inaugurated in Zhengzhou.
In this cooperation with the Henan Provincial Government, Foxconn will focus on implementing the group's 3+3 strategic industries, prioritizing electric vehicles, digital health, and robotics, as well as AI, semiconductors, and new-generation mobile communications. They plan to develop the solid-state battery industry in the Zhengzhou Aviation Port, focusing on the research, development, and production of solid electrolytes, semi-solid, and all-solid-state battery cells.
In the near future, Foxconn will focus on projects such as an electric vehicle trial center and solid-state batteries in the Zhengzhou Aviation Port Economic Comprehensive Experimental Zone.
This marks Foxconn's second major move in the energy storage field this year.
In March this year, Foxconn Technology Group announced an agreement with Asahi Kasei Capital to establish a joint venture, Green Energy Asset Management Company, and to initiate the establishment of a Green Energy Development Fund to jointly expand green energy business in mainland China.
Foxconn will leverage Asahi Kasei Capital's years of investment and operational experience in global energy development. The joint venture will have a total capital of 2 billion RMB, focusing on green power projects, with the ultimate goal of securing 20 billion kWh of green electricity rights annually.
The two parties plan to establish a Green Energy Development Fund with a target scale of 7 billion RMB, focusing on solar energy, wind energy, and supporting energy storage industries. This cooperation is expected to secure 60 billion kWh of green electricity rights, accelerating the move towards net zero and sustainable environmental development.
Foxconn has a history of pursuing popular sectors, and its footprint in the energy storage sector, particularly in new energy, is gradually expanding through the establishment of new companies, investments in leading enterprises, and the establishment of funds.
Foxconn's foray into new energy began in 2011, primarily focusing on the photovoltaic industry. In 2011 and 2015, Foxconn established two new energy companies and collaborated with companies like China Southern Power Grid and local governments in cities like Foshan to build photovoltaic projects.
In June 2022, Foxconn entered the energy storage field with the groundbreaking of its first battery factory in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, producing lithium iron phosphate batteries with a planned capacity of 1.27 GWh. These batteries will be used in electric buses, electric passenger cars, and energy storage systems.
In 2023, Foxconn acquired a 2.39% stake in Shanghai Cycu Energy, formally entering the mainland energy storage industry chain. Cycu Energy, established in 2017, ranked among the top ten in national energy storage system shipments in 2023.
As an industry-disruptive battery product, the concept of all-solid-state batteries has been gaining momentum globally this year, with increasing competition in this field.
Major battery and automobile companies like CATL, BYD, FAW, and SAIC have announced mass production timelines. Data shows that in the first seven months of this year, new domestic solid-state battery capacity (including planned and landed projects) exceeded 140 GWh, involving over 64 billion RMB.
In fact, Foxconn has been laying the groundwork in this hot sector since 2017, when Foxconn's subsidiary, Futaihua Industry, invested 1 billion RMB in CATL to promote solid-state battery research.
In October 2023, Foxconn's subsidiary, SolidEdge Solution, signed a memorandum of understanding with Blue Solutions, a subsidiary of the French Bolloré Group, to collaborate on producing solid-state batteries for two-wheel vehicles and potentially other electric vehicles in the future.
Blue Solutions is the only company in the French and Canadian markets producing solid-state batteries.
The primary target market for this collaboration is Indonesia, where the number of electric two-wheelers is expected to reach 13 million by 2030.
Despite solid-state batteries being considered the best development path for lithium batteries due to their high energy density, safety, and long cycle life, only about 1 GWh of the 142 GWh new capacity in the first seven months of this year is actually new landed capacity, highlighting the challenges in R&D and mass production.
The main issues lie in technical, cost, and early-stage industrialization challenges.
Technically, solid-state batteries face breakthroughs in anode and electrolyte materials, with the three technological routes (sulfide, polymer, and oxide) each having fundamental shortcomings. For example, sulfide electrolytes have poor air stability, polymer electrolytes have low ionic conductivity at room temperature, and oxide electrolytes require high-temperature sintering to ensure good contact with cathode materials, while also facing lithium dendrite growth issues.
Cost-wise, some of the rare metal raw materials used in solid electrolytes are expensive. Data shows that the current cost of solid-state batteries is nearly four times higher than that of liquid batteries.
Additionally, solid-state batteries are still in the early stages of industrialization. Different companies focus on different technological routes, and improvements in material performance, production processes, and quality control require collaboration among academia, industry, and upstream and downstream companies.
As more companies enter the field, competition in the solid-state battery sector will become fiercer. Whether Foxconn, which has repeatedly failed in the automobile industry, can secure a place in the solid-state battery race remains to be seen.
Source：DESN