


Last month, the giant Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn spent $33 million to buy a 10-acre tract of land north of Houston to expand its operations. It is also building factories in India and Mexico and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Thailand.
Foxconn produces a significant share of the world’s consumer electronics at its factories in central China. It has long assembled iPhones for Apple and says it makes almost half of all computer servers that power artificial intelligence systems.
Over the past two years, Foxconn has spent millions of dollars building up its operations around the world to lessen its dependence on China.
President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to impose tariffs on goods imported from China and elsewhere on his first day in office next month. Foxconn has been preparing for this possibility for years.
Young Liu, Foxconn’s chairman, said recently that the company’s growing global footprint would help to insulate it against Mr. Trump’s expected tariffs.
“The impact on us is likely smaller compared to our competitors,” Mr. Liu told reporters after a forum in Taipei after the company closed its Texas deal.