Future electric and self-driving cars may be produced through a collaboration between Apple’s primary supplier, Foxconn, and the Chinese automotive manufacturer, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The two organizations have reached an agreement to establish a joint venture concentrating on contract manufacturing for vehicle producers. This venture will specifically address electric vehicle production, connectivity, autonomous driving technologies, and vehicles intended for shared mobility services. Both companies will possess an equal 50% ownership stake in the new venture. The board will be comprised of five directors, with Foxconn appointing three members—including the chairperson—and Geely Holding appointing the remaining two, as stated in a joint announcement.

This agreement builds upon existing efforts by both companies to expand their roles in contract manufacturing within the automotive sector. Previously this week, Geely announced its support for China’s leading search engine, Baidu, in establishing a company dedicated to the production of electric vehicles. Baidu will contribute its expertise in intelligent driving technologies, while Geely will oversee vehicle design and manufacturing. Simultaneously, Foxconn has revealed plans to assist the struggling Chinese electric vehicle company, Byton, in the production of its M-Byte SUV.

Daniel Donghui Li, CEO of Geely Holding Group, emphasized that the global automotive landscape is undergoing significant transformation. He stated that Geely must “proactively adapt to change, forge alliances, and combine resources to deliver enhanced value to our customers,” and that Foxconn’s capabilities will provide valuable insights into the automotive industry’s ongoing evolution.

The joint venture will offer comprehensive consulting services encompassing complete vehicles, components, intelligent driving systems, and other platforms within the automotive ecosystem, catering to both automakers and ridesharing companies. Geely will contribute its extensive experience in automotive design, engineering, research and development, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain management, and quality assurance, while Foxconn will leverage its manufacturing and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expertise.

According to the companies, the objective is to assist automakers in accelerating their adoption of innovative and efficient manufacturing processes and business models centered around connected, autonomous, shared, and electrified technologies—collectively known as CASE within the industry.

In recent years, a multitude of new companies aspiring to become the next Tesla or to successfully commercialize autonomous vehicles have emerged, creating a substantial potential customer base for this Foxconn-Geely partnership. A major challenge in large-scale vehicle production is the substantial capital investment—amounting to billions of dollars—required for constructing and equipping a factory. This financial need has led several EV startups to pursue public listing through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies. Canoo, Fisker, Lordstown Motors, and Nikola Corp. are examples of companies that have become publicly traded via such mergers, also known as blank-check companies.

Young-way Liu, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, described the alliance as a significant milestone in the collaboration between the automotive and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors.

“By combining Foxconn’s leading global R&D technologies, intelligent manufacturing capabilities, and hardware-software integration expertise, the two parties are forming a highly complementary partnership. This will enable us to better serve and fulfill the diverse requirements of various customers, and provide the most advanced, rapid, and cost-effective full value-chain vehicle production service platform,” Young-way Liu explained, adding that the partnership will bring about substantial advancements in the automotive industry.