Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer, reported a 17.7 per cent year-on-year drop in profits in the first quarter after several months of weak smartphone growth.
The Taipei-listed company said net profit was NT$19.82bn (£492m) for the first three months of 2019, below a consensus estimate of NT$25bn from analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Foxconn, whose chairman Terry Gou has said he wants to run for Taiwan’s presidency, did not explain what had led to the dip.
Many of the Taiwanese companies that dominate the global electronics supply chain are suffering from waning consumer demand. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, posted a 32 per cent annual fall in first-quarter profits, blaming slowing smartphone sales.
But Foxconn is hit harder than most because as the largest assembler of the iPhone it is overly dependent on revenue from Apple, whose smartphones have struggled, especially in China.
