The satellites, co-developed with Taiwan’s National Central University, are the size of a backpack, weigh about 9 kilograms (20 pounds) each and carry cameras, communication devices and other equipment. They are designed to orbit Earth every 96 minutes at an altitude of 520 kilometres (323 miles).
Proportion of India-made iPhones to double by 2024: TF Securities
Proportion of India-made iPhones to double by 2024: TF Securities
New growth
“I needed to find some something so that the company is able to grow for the next 10, 15 years,” Liu said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.
Revenue at Foxconn, the world’s third-largest private employer after Walmart and Amazon.com, is expected to drop about 6 per cent this year to NT$6.2 trillion (US$192 billion), according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.
Order book
For an outsourcing manufacturers like Foxconn, “unless you can find another one that comes along at the right moment, your life can be very difficult”, he said.
Government orders could provide Foxconn with some security as it builds out its satellite business, according to Farrar.
“Foxconn is thinking, if the Taiwanese government gives us a baseline of orders every year, that will be OK,” he said.
Taiwan is working on a plan to launch its first LEO communication satellite, part of a strategy to develop space-based alternatives to the undersea cables that provide most of the island’s internet connections.
Taiwan elections: how Foxconn investigation could backfire on Beijing
Taiwan elections: how Foxconn investigation could backfire on Beijing
Another line of support will be Foxconn’s electric-vehicle business, since they require real-time communication technology, said Jason Wang, a Foxconn analyst with MasterLink Securities in Taipei.
“You need to have a solution in place for your car to use,” Wang said. “If they want to export this business, they at least need to have an infrastructure in place to demo the technology in Taiwan.”
The company’s background in electronics and know-how gained from making smartphones, games consoles and other devices should help with that.
“Taiwan is very good at making all different kinds of commercial products in electronics,” said Shiang-yu Wang, a research fellow at the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics in Taipei. “These companies can easily switch” to space.