Foxconn

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Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
鴻海精密工業股份有限公司
Foxconn
Public
Traded as TWSE: 2317
SEHK2038
LSEHHPD
Industry Electronics
Founded February 20, 1974; 50 years ago (1974-02-20)
Founder Terry Gou
Headquarters Tucheng District, New Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Terry Gou
(Chairman and President)
Products Electronics, electronic components
Services Electronics manufacturing services
Revenue Increase US$131.8 billion (2013)[1]
Increase US$3.64 billion (2013)[1]
Increase US$3.55 billion (2013)[1]
Total assets Increase US$77.12 billion (2013)[1]
Total equity Increase US$26.87 billion (2013)[1]
Number of employees
1.09 million (2013)[2]
Website foxconn.com
Foxconn
Traditional Chinese 鴻海精密工業股份有限公司
Simplified Chinese 鸿海精密工业股份有限公司
Literal meaning Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
Trading name
Traditional Chinese 富士康科技集團
Simplified Chinese 富士康科技集团
Literal meaning Foxconn Technology Group

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It is the world's largest electronics contractor manufacturer,[3] and the third-largest information technology company by revenue.[4]

Foxconn is primarily a contract manufacturer and its clients include major American, European, Japanese, and Canadian electronics and information technology companies. Notable products that the company manufactures include the BlackBerry,[5] iPad,[6] iPhone,[7] Kindle,[8] PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U.[9]

Foxconn has been involved in several controversies relating to how it manages employees in China. There has been a history of suicides at its factories blamed on working conditions. In January 2012, about 150 Foxconn employees threatened to commit mass-suicide in protest at their working conditions.[10]

History

Foxconn connector box tag in 2014

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. was founded in 1974 by Terry Gou as a manufacturer of electrical components (notably electrical connectors for computer components,[7] which found use in the Atari 2600).[11] Foxconn was originally a trade name of Hon Hai and a subsidiary later received the name.[7] Hon Hai's first manufacturing plant in mainland China opened in Longhua, Shenzhen, in 1988.[7]

In 2001, Intel switched from using Chinese contract manufacturer Asus to use Foxconn to make Intel-branded motherboards.[12]

In November 2007, Foxconn announced plans to build a new US$500 million plant in Huizhou, Southern China.[13]

In March 2012, Foxconn agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in the Japanese electronics company Sharp Corporation for US$806 million and to purchase up to 50 percent of the LCD displays produced at Sharp's plant in Sakai, Japan.[14]

In January 2012, Foxconn named Tien Chong (Terry) Cheng chief executive, who soon resigned, citing health problems.[15]

In September 2012, Foxconn announced plans to invest US$494 million in the construction of five new factories in Itu, Brazil, creating 10,000 jobs.[16]

The company paid $312 million in 2014 for two 4G licenses in the lower 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands in Taiwan's Telco spectrum auction. In May 2014, Foxconn announced it was expanding its involvement in Taiwan's nascent 4G telecommunications market further by merging with Taiwan's fourth-largest mobile operator Asia Pacific Telecom. The deal was set to close on June 20, 2014.[17] In addition, FIH Mobile (a subsidiary of Hon Hai) became the largest shareholder of migme Limited, a social entertainment platform, through a $9.6 million investment that gave the Foxconn-linked handset company a 19.9% stake in the company.[18][19]

Operations

Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and Brazil that together assemble around 40 percent of all consumer electronics products sold.[20]

China

Foxconn has 12 factories in nine Chinese cities—more than in any other country.[21]

Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands of workers (varying counts include 230,000,[20] 300,000,[22] and 450,000[23]) are employed at the Longhua Science & Technology Park, a walled campus[7] sometimes referred to as “Foxconn City”.[24] Covering about 1.16 square miles (3 square km),[25] it includes 15 factories,[24] worker dormitories, 4 swimming pools,[26] a fire brigade,[7] its own television network (Foxconn TV),[7] and a city centre with a grocery store, bank, restaurants, bookstore, and hospital.[7] While some workers live in surrounding towns and villages, others live and work inside the complex;[27] a quarter of the employees live in the dormitories, and many of them work up to 12 hours a day for 6 days each week.[20] Another of Foxconn's factory "cities" is Zhengzhou Technology Park in Zhengzhou, Henan province, where it is reported 120,000 employees work.[28]

Foxconn continues to expand, and planned factories include sites at Chengdu in Sichuan province and Wuhan in Hubei province.[21]

Australia

The manufacturing facility and warehouse are strategically located west of Sydney for easy access to road, rail, sea and air transport.

Brazil

All company facilities in South America are located in Brazil,[29] and these include mobile phone factories in Manaus and Indaiatuba as well as production bases in Jundiai, Sorocaba, and Santa Rita do Sapucaí.[30] The company is considering more investments in Brazil.[31]

Europe

A Foxconn factory in the Czech Republic

Foxconn has factories in Hungary,[32] Slovakia,[31] Turkey[33] and the Czech Republic.[34] Foxconn factories are strategically located in Europe to ensure rapid fulfillment for its customers. It is the second-largest exporter in the Czech Republic.[34] The facility in Pardubice was established in 2000 and it has become the regional HQ of Foxconn EMEA operations, with the manufacturing & shipping capacity over 1 million systems per month. In 2008, Foxconn opened the new plant in Kutna Hora, used for manufacturing of servers and data centers. Foxconn started its manufacturing operations in Turkey in February 2011.

India

Foxconn has operational units since 2006 in the Special Economic Zone of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[35] This unit is closed as of December 24, 2014. This affected 22,000 employees.[36] As of mid 2015 Foxconn Technology was in talks to manufacture Apple's iPhone in India.[37] In 2015 Foxconn announced it would be setting up twelve factories in India and would create around one million jobs.[38] Foxconn will invest in India in manufacturing, energy and e-commerce sectors in 2015. Foxconn will also bring supply chain companies in India. India will work with Adani[clarification needed] for more efficient expansion of Foxconn in the country. On August 8, 2015, Foxconn signed MOU with Government Of Maharashtra to set up electronic manufacturing plant in Maharashtra with the investment of $5 billion within the 5-year period.[39] Recently it started manufacturing products of one plus and gionne.[clarification needed]

Japan

Foxconn and Sharp Corporation jointly run two plants manufacturing large-screen televisions in Sakai, Osaka. In August 2012, it was reported that Sharp, while doing corporate restructuring and downsizing, was considering selling the plants to Foxconn, which was believed to be receptive to the plan.[40]

Malaysia

As of 2011, Foxconn had at least seven factories in Johor state,[41] possibly at Kulaijaya, where it is developing an industrial park that will include four factories once completed.[42]

Mexico

Foxconn has a facility in San Jerónimo, Chihuahua that assembles computers,[43] and two facilities in Juárez – a former Motorola production base that manufactures mobile phones,[44] and a set-top box factory acquired from Cisco Systems.[45] LCD televisions are also made in the country by Foxconn in a plant acquired from Sony.[46]

South Korea

The company invested $377 million in June 2014 to pick up a 4.9 percent shareholding in South Korean IT services provider SK C&C.[47]

United States

Foxconn has a facility in Indianapolis.[clarification needed][citation needed] In December 2013, Foxconn announced plans to invest $30 million over two years to build a manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, as well as putting $10 million into R&D at Carnegie Mellon University. The new facility will be located in Harrisburg and will develop robotic equipment.[48][49] As of November 2015, the investments had not been made.

Major customers

Major customers of Foxconn include or have included:

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(headquarters location in parentheses)

Controversies

Foxconn has been involved in several controversies all relating to employee grievances or treatment. Foxconn has more than a million employees.[65] In China, it employs more people than any other private company as of 2011.[31]

Working conditions

Allegations of poor working conditions have been made on several occasions.[66] News reports highlight the long working hours,[24][25] discrimination against mainland Chinese workers by their Taiwanese co-workers,[67] and lack of working relationships at the company.[68] Although Foxconn was found to be compliant in the majority of areas when Apple Inc. audited the maker of its iPods and iPhones in 2007[7] the audit did substantiate a few of the allegations.[69] Despite the suicide crisis which took place from January to May 2010, Steve Jobs defended Foxconn in June 2010 as being "pretty nice" and "not a sweatshop"[70]

Concerns increased in early 2012 due to an article published in The New York Times.[71] Substantiating some the article's claims, a 2012 audit performed by the Fair Labor Association at the request of Apple Inc. found that workers routinely received insufficient overtime pay and suggested that workplace accidents may be common.[72][73]

A Hong Kong non-profit organisation, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, has written numerous negative reports on Foxconn's treatment of its employees.[74] These typically find far worse conditions than the 2012 Fair Labor Association audit did[citation needed] but rely on a far smaller number of employee informants–100 to 170.[75] The Fair Labor Association audit in 2012 used interviews with 35,000 Foxconn employees.[72]

In September 2012, a fight at worker dormitories in Taiyuan, Shanxi, escalated into a riot involving 2,000 people and was quelled by security.[76][77]

In October 2012, the company admitted that 14-year-old children had worked for a short time at a facility in Yantai, Shandong Province.[78] Foxconn said that the workers involved were part of an internship program.[78] Individuals as young as 16 can legally work in China.[78]

Also in October 2012, a young worker, Zhang Tingzhen, was threatened to have Hon-Hai medical support canceled, when doctors remonstrated against moving his injured body for treatment in Huizhou from the hospital in Shenzhen.[clarification needed] He suffered an electrical shock and was injured to the extent that doctors needed to amputate half of his brain. This left him in no condition to travel to Huizhou, the city where he was initially hired. The company stated that it was acting within labor laws.[79][80][81][82]

Suicides

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Suicides among Foxconn workers have attracted media attention. One was the high-profile death of a worker after the loss of a prototype and the other, a series of suicides linked to low pay in 2010. Suicides of Foxconn workers continued into 2012, with one in June 2012.[83]

Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old man, committed suicide in July 2009 after reporting the loss of an iPhone 4[84] prototype in his possession.[85]

In reaction to a spate of worker suicides in which 14 people died in 2010,[86] a report from 20 Chinese universities described Foxconn factories as labor camps and detailed widespread worker abuse and illegal overtime.[87] In response to suicidal workers jumping out of windows, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention netting at the base of buildings in some facilities,[66] and it promised to offer substantially higher wages at its Shenzhen production bases.[88] Workers were also forced to sign a legally binding document guaranteeing they and their descendants would not sue the company as a result of unexpected death, self-injury or suicide.[89]

See also

References

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  75. For report relying on 100 worker informants, see Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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Further reading

External links