Why Apple Supplier Foxconn Is Investing In Electric Scooter Maker Gogoro
Horace Luke, cofounder and CEO of Gogoro.
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract assembler of consumer electronics, is backing Gogoro, which intends to list in the U.S. via a special purpose acquisition company in the first quarter this year. The deal values the 11-year-old Taiwanese electric scooter maker at $2.35 billion.
“The chairman of Foxconn [Young Liu] wants to show his support, and there’s no better way to show support in how you invest your resources,” says Gogoro cofounder and CEO Horace Luke in an interview.
It took Liu’s team just 15 minutes to decide on a strategic partnership with Gogoro last year to accelerate the company’s global expansion through Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities, notes Luke. “It shows the world he is committed to mobility,” he says. “He thinks electric mobility is something he needs to be making huge investments in.”
For over a year, Foxconn, founded by Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou, has been actively announcing partnerships and plans to produce electric vehicles as the world moves to cut carbon emissions. Taiwan-based Foxconn, best known as the assembler of the iPhone, has tried over the past decade to diversify product lines. Foxconn has set a goal of taking 10% of the global EV market between 2025 and 2027.
MORE FOR YOU
“From Foxconn’s point of view, the [Gogoro] partnership enables the company to further diversify their revenue streams through the manufacturing of battery swapping technology and smart scooters,” says Ryan Citron, senior research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.
Foxconn and Gogoro just signed a memorandum of understanding in Indonesia, says Luke. The deal, which also involves the Indonesian government and state-owned Indonesia Battery Corp., will advance electrification and an “open network” in Southeast Asia’s largest market, he notes. A network of battery-swapping stations, a specialty of Gogoro, in Indonesia could emerge from the deal.
Gogoro has saturated the Taiwan market, where scooters are a standard mode of transportation, with electric two-wheelers and a vast battery-swap network—followed by battery sales inroads into the larger Chinese and Indian markets.
In April, Gogoro announced a strategic partnership with Indian billionaire Pawan Munjal’s Hero MotoCorp to establish an Indian battery-swapping joint venture. Earlier this week, Hero MotoCorp participated in Gogoro’s $285 million PIPE, or private investment in public equity, a common feature of SPAC mergers.
