Foxconn Pays $727M for Half of Mitsubishi Auto Unit — SkimNews
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- Foxconn is paying ¥115 billion ($727M) via its investment arm Lin Yin International Investment for a 50% stake in Mitsubishi Electric Mobility, valuing the business at ¥320 billion ($2B) enterprise value, with closing scheduled for October 1, 2027 after antitrust review
- The target is a traditional Tier 1 supplier making alternators, ignition coils, radar sensors and ADAS units — not an EV platform — and revenue fell ¥43.5 billion year-over-year to ¥875.6 billion as Japanese automakers lost share in China
- Foxconn is not acquiring Mitsubishi Electric's power semiconductors: the SiC and IGBT modules that go inside EV inverters remain in a separate merger between Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm and Toshiba that was announced in March
- The ¥230 billion equity value sits below the ¥352 billion net asset value on the business's books, forcing Mitsubishi Electric to book a ¥100 billion impairment this fiscal year; the multiple works out to 0.37 times sales and roughly 6 times operating profit
- The partners' revenue goal of ¥1 trillion ($6.3B) by the fiscal year starting April 2030 equates to roughly 5% annual growth from the current ¥875.6 billion base — modest by EV-deal standards
- Foxconn's six-year EV track record includes the Fisker bankruptcy (2024), the never-produced Pear, and the Lordstown, Ohio factory sold last year for $375M; the only legacy automaker badge on a Foxtron-developed EV is Mitsubishi Motors' ASX VR-e (a separate company from Mitsubishi Electric)
- Jun Seki, Foxconn's EV chief strategy officer and a former Nissan executive, told reporters Mitsubishi's electronic control technology was "the most attractive thing" about the deal and that Foxconn wants to make Mitsubishi Electric "our anchor in Japan"
Why it matters: Foxconn is paying growth-style multiples for a mature Tier 1 supplier whose revenue fell ¥43.5 billion last year on weak Japanese-automaker sales in China — Mitsubishi Electric itself will book a ¥100 billion impairment on the deal. Foxconn's actual EV track record (Fisker bankruptcy, Lordstown plant flipped) means it is buying capability it has not yet built, and the SiC and IGBT power chips that matter most for EVs stay in a separate Rohm–Toshiba merger.
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