Foxconn's Sharp Buy Won't Impact Hisense/Sharp TV Business, CEO Says

Foxconn’s purchase of a 66 percent controlling interest in Sharp (see 1603300021) won’t affect Hisense’s TV business, Hisense Americas CEO Jerry Liu emailed us Thursday. Hisense bought Sharp’s TV factory in Rosarito, Mexico, last year along with North American licensing rights to the Sharp brand for five years. “The licensing agreement is not affected by a transition in ownership so we don’t expect anticipate [sic] any impact on our North American TV business,” Liu said. Hisense plugged another $30 million into the Rosarito plant last month with a goal of boosting production to 4 million TVs per year throughout North America, up from 1.5 million today, a Wall Street Journal report said last month. Liu sidestepped our question about whose LCD and QD panels would be used in future Sharp and Hisense TVs. Instead, he said that all Sharp and Hisense televisions are now being produced by Hisense at the HIMEX factory in Mexico. Liu noted that at CES Hisense announced 25 Sharp televisions for 2017, including the first curved screen and quantum dot models for the brand. For 2016, Hisense is planning 22 new Hisense models, many of which are already shipping and “will not be affected by the Sharp/Foxconn news.” On the company’s choice to feature a Hisense TV, not Sharp, at the Luxury Technology Show in New York last week (see 1603240056), Liu said, “Hisense is the number three television brand in the world and we have an aggressive goal to be the number three US brand within three years. It is important to us to introduce the brand and its superior television technology to all types of consumers.” Liu said 2016 is an “important year” for Hisense as it looks to grow its U.S. presence. “We are growing our North American presence, expanding our R&D capabilities across our North American locations and challenging the industry with a 4 year warranty for all 4K televisions -- the longest warranty in the television industry.”