Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) moved a step closer to raising funds for investments in technologies including 5G, IoT and artificial intelligence, after a planned listing of subsidiary Foxconn Industrial Internet was approved.

Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, was cleared to list the subsidiary on the Shanghai exchange around a month after filing its listing prospectus. The company in February announced plans to invest CNY27.3 billion ($4.3 billion) generated from the listing into funding eight new technology projects.

The prospectus did not disclose share pricing or the number of shares to be listed.

Foxconn gained fast-track approval of the listing as part of Beijing’s plans to promote unicorn companies (start-ups with a valuation of more than $1 billion) in new high-tech sectors. The regulator had taken steps to reform the stock exchange listing process in an effort to invigorate the country’s capital markets, China Daily reported.

The review by the China Securities Regulatory Commission normally takes more than a year, the newspaper said.

Foxconn Industrial Internet makes electronic devices, cloud service equipment and industrial robots. In 2017 its profit increased 10 per cent to CNY14.4 billion, while revenue rose 30 per cent to CNY354 billion.