Taipei - Hon Hai, the world's largest electronics components manufacturer, said friday its 2008 sales rose but income fell amid the global financial crisis.

Sales surged by 19.2 per cent to 1.47 trillion Taiwan dollars (42 billion US dollars), but net income dropped by 29 per cent to 55.1 billion Taiwan dollars (1.6 billion US dollars), compared with 2007.

"Looking forward, Hon Hai will continue to take a conservative stand while expanding competitive advantage over the industry in terms of efficiency optimization and technical capabilities," said Ding Chi-an, spokesman for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.

On top of expanding its design and software capabilities, Hon Hai will strengthen its partnership and alliance programmes with its global partners, he added.

Based in Tucheng, near Taipei, Hon Hai is a world leader in mobile phones, personal computers, notebook PCs, motherboards and game consoles. Hong Kong-listed Foxconn is the registered trade name for Hon Hai.

Hon Hai also has production bases in China, Vietnam, Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Mexico. (dpa)