• Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) said on Monday that its sales for last month rose more than 13 percent from a month earlier largely due to strong buying in smart consumer electronics gadgets.

In a statement, iPhone assembler Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn on the global market, said it posted NT$460.13 billion (US$14.66 billion) in consolidated sales, up 13.48 percent from a month earlier, but the revenue last month fell 20.93 percent from a year earlier amid global economic weakness.

Still, the latest monthly sales hit their second-highest for January, only trailing the NT$660.40 billion posted in January 2022, according to Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics maker.

Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

Hon Hai said due to solid orders placed for smart consumer electronics devices, last month’s sales climbed from a month earlier. Analysts said the orders were placed mostly by Apple Inc as the US consumer electronics giant rebuilds its inventories in iPhones to meet demand.

Hon Hai last month said it also enjoyed significant growth in computing products from a month earlier, while month-on-month sales growth in cloud-based products was offset by the weakness in networking products.

In addition, its electronics component division saw sales falling month-on-month last month due to a relatively high comparison base in December resulting from a one-off non-recurring engineering recognition, Hon Hai said.

On a year-on-year basis, electronic component, cloud and networking products sales staged a strong rebound last month, while revenue from computing products fell due to weaker demand for PCs, according to Hon Hai.

Its smart consumer electronics operations also suffered a year-on-year decline in revenue last month due to a relatively high comparison base over the same period of last year, when lockdowns were lifted amid COVID-19 in Hon Hai’s compound in Zhengzhou in China’s Henan Province, where iPhones were made.

Looking ahead, Hon Hai said its business has entered a slow season in the first quarter of this year and its operations will be affected by seasonal effects compared with a quarter earlier.

Hon Hai added sales during the January-March period are expected to fall from a year earlier, reflecting production resumption in Zhengzhou.

In the first quarter of last year, Hon Hai’s consolidated sales stood at NT$1.85 trillion, up 20 percent from a quarter earlier, but down 5.4 percent from a year earlier.

Hon Hai has scheduled an investor conference for March 14 to detail the fourth-quarter results and give guidance for the current quarter.