Foxconn has opened a new research and development centre for electric vehicles in Zhengzhou, China, as it steps up efforts to become a contract manufacturer for automakers and accelerate vehicle development timelines.
The centre began operations on Wednesday and aims to reduce the production cycle for new electric vehicle models to about 24 months, according to a statement from the Henan provincial government cited by Reuters. The facility will focus on next-generation electric vehicles, electric architectures and intelligent driving technologies, the statement said, quoting Li Guangyao, managing director of a Foxconn subsidiary in Henan.
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Details of the new site remain limited, but it is widely expected to be the same facility whose construction began in July 2024. At the time, Foxconn described the project as a pilot electric vehicle manufacturing centre intended to serve “well-known domestic and international automotive brands,” underlining its ambition to replicate its consumer electronics contract manufacturing model in the automotive sector.
The Zhengzhou EV centre is located near Foxconn’s large iPhone manufacturing complex, highlighting the company’s strategy of leveraging its existing industrial base and supply chain expertise. Foxconn has been Apple’s main iPhone assembler for years and has sought to apply similar scale-driven efficiencies to vehicle production.
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Alongside the EV R&D centre, Foxconn is also building a headquarters for its New Business division in Zhengzhou. That operation will focus on the company’s so-called ‘3+3 Strategy’, covering three emerging business areas—electric vehicles, digital health and robotics—and three core technologies: artificial intelligence, next-generation communications and semiconductors.
Foxconn has pursued automotive opportunities for several years and has developed multiple battery-electric vehicle prototypes under its Foxtron brand, which are intended as reference designs for potential customers. More recently, Daimler Truck subsidiary Fuso formed a joint venture with Foxconn to develop and manufacture electric buses. Separately, Foxconn and German supplier ZF have operated the ZF Foxconn Chassis Modules joint venture since 2024, which has opened a new plant in Hungary to produce electric axles.
The expansion in Zhengzhou underscores Foxconn’s determination to secure a larger role in the global electric vehicle supply chain as automakers look for faster, more flexible development and production partners.