Foxconn says ‘no definitive agreement’ after news of $700 mln Apple iPhone factory in Bengaluru

Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest contract manufacturers, said on Saturday that there was no definitive agreement about investment in India, the French news agency AFP reported. This came after a report from Bloomberg on Friday last that Foxconn will invest about $700 million to build a new plant near India’s tech capital Bengaluru. Also in this brief, Universal Hydrogen, a hydrogen fuel cell technologies company, last week, conducted the first test of a 40-passenger regional airliner aircraft, using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. Notes: Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest contract manufacturers, said on Saturday that there was no definitive agreement about investment in India, the French news agency AFP reported. This came after a report from Bloomberg on Friday last that Foxconn will invest about $700 million to build a new plant near India’s tech capital Bengaluru, in Karnataka. “Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) has announced a major investment in Karnataka. 300 acres of land has been identified for this purpose near the Bengaluru International Airport, in Doddaballapura and Devanahalli taluks,” a statement from the government of Karnataka read, on March 3. The statement didn’t mention Apple or say how much money Foxconn would be investing. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said Foxconn will build an iPhone parts plant on the 300-acre site. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s union minister of state for electronics and information technology, also tweeted the Bloomberg report and added “apple phones to be built in new 300-acre facility in Karnataka.” Foxconn said in a statement on Saturday that no deals had been finalised, while confirming that chairman and CEO Young Liu visited India from February 27 to March 4, according to a report by the French press agency Agence France-Presse, that was carried by Mint. “Foxconn has not entered into binding, definitive agreements for new investments during this trip,” the statement said. Arm, the British chip designer owned by Japan’s SoftBank, is looking to raise at least $8 billion from what is expected to be a blockbuster US stock market launch this year, CNBC reports, citing people familiar with the plan. Arm is expected to confidentially submit paperwork for its initial public offering in late April, according to CNBC. The listing is expected to happen later this year and the timing will be determined by market conditions. Universal Hydrogen, which as the name suggests, is a hydrogen fuel cell technologies company, last week, flew a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion, according to a press release from the Los Angeles-based venture. The aeroplane, nicknamed Lightning McClean, flew for 15 minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,500 MSL. The flight, conducted under America’s FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate, was the first in a two-year flight test campaign expected to culminate in 2025 with entry into passenger service of ATR 72 regional aircraft converted to run on hydrogen. In this first test flight, one of the aeroplane’s turbine engines was replaced with Universal Hydrogen’s fuel cell-electric, megawatt-class powertrain. The other remained a conventional engine for the safety of flight.