Foxconn is best known as the sometimes-controversial Taiwanese manufacturer used by Apple to assemble iPhones. Sharp is an ailing Japanese company that used to make plasma TVs, and now makes iPhone displays.


The Nikkei Asian Review reports that Sharp’s board has accepted a $6.2 billion buyout from Foxconn. Normally, component manufacturers changing hands isn’t a big deal, but given Apple’s strong ties to both Foxconn and Sharp, it’s worth taking a moment.

Foxconn doesn’t currently manufacture iPhone components—it takes shipments of screens, chips and sensors, and turns them into Snapchatting machines. Apple doesn’t technically own Foxconn, but with the size of the contracts between the two, it’s assumed they have a rather cordial working relationship.


Sharp is one of the primary manufacturers of iPhone displays, one of the hardest-to-source and most crucial components. Apple’s had supply problems in the past, so with this acquisition, it’s made its flow of components a little easier to control.

[Nikkei]

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