Sony hives-off Mexican LCD plant
01 Sep 2009
Japanese electronics giant, Sony today said that it will sell its LCD plant in Mexico to a Taiwanese company for an undisclosed sum as part of its efforts to cut costs and improve profitability.
Sony will sell 90 per cent of its shares in Sony Baja California to the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Group along with related assets at the company's Tijuana site in Mexico, while retaining a 10-per cent interest.
Hon Hai Precision Industry makes PCs for Hewlett-Packard, cell phones for Nokia, assembles the iPhone for Apple and PlayStation 2 game consoles for Sony.
Operating under the trade name Foxconn, Hon Hoi employs 550,000 people globally and its 2008 revenue was $51.8 billion.
In May 2009, Hon Hai acquired an Australian plant from HP while it acquired Motorola's mobile phone factory in Chihuahua, Mexico in 2003. It is now building its new North American headquarters in Juarez, Mexico.
The Sony plant, located near the California border in Tijuana, Mexico, produces LCD TVs, tuners, home audio and car audio and most of the LCD Bravia TVs sold to North American consumers.
