Foxconn Chairman hates Samsung and says iPhone 5 will put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame

Focus Taiwan – Foxconn Chairman Gou also urged consumers to wait for the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, saying that the new model will put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame. Foxconn builds iPhones and iPads for Apple.

With Hon Hai’s (Foxconn) marketing and manufacturing strengths and Sharp’s key technologies, the two will be able to defeat their arch-rival Samsung, the chairman said.

Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting that the alliance with the Japanese company will allow Hon Hai to beat Samsung Electronics Co. in three to five years.

The new partnership will help Hon Hai upgrade its competitiveness in the cut-throat display panel business, in addition to gaining ownership of the Taiwanese flat-panel maker Chimei Innolux Corp

Hon Hai announced in late March its acquisition of a roughly 10 percent stake in Sharp for US$800 million, which made it the Japanese company’s largest shareholder.

Under the new deal, Gou agreed to acquire a 46.5 percent stake under his own name in Sharp’s Sakai-based 10th-generation LCD panel plant, for an additional US$800 million.

The plant is the only facility in the world capable of mass producing 60-inch to 80-inch panels, according to Gou.

Part of the plant’s assembly line will be moved to Hon Hai’s headquarters in Tucheng, New Taipei, to create jobs in the area.

Gou said he has made it a lifetime goal to defeat Samsung — “a company with a track record of snitching on its competitors.”

He was referring to Samsung’s action in 2010 of snitching on four Taiwanese companies in an investigation by the European Commission on price-fixing in the flat panel industry.

A total fine of 433.92 million euros (NT$17.3 billion) was subsequently imposed to the four Taiwanese firms — Chimei Innolux Corp., AU Optronics Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. and HannStar Display Corp. of Taiwan.

Samsung was exempted from the investigation by serving as a “tainted witness.”

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