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Foxconn Confirms Plans to Expand to North America

By - Source: Bloomberg | B 22 comments

Foxconn said it plans to expand its facilities to North America because Americans want locally-made products.

Louis Woo, a spokesman for Foxconn Technology Group, confirmed to Bloomberg in a phone interview that the company is looking to expand its operations in North America. The news arrives after a previous report in November claiming that Foxconn was bringing U.S. engineers to Asia for training before sending them back to the States. Sources said American factories would focus on LCD TV production instead of Apple hardware.

Woo acknowledged to Bloomberg that Americans simply want more of their products manufactured locally. While that is indeed true, Americans also want reassurance that local workers have jobs, and that business isn't being farmed out to cheaper labor overseas.

The drawback to establishing local factories, according to Woo, is that the supply chain itself will present a challenge. "In addition, any manufacturing we take back to the U.S. needs to leverage high-value engineering talent there in comparison to the low-cost labor of China," Woo added.

Foxconn chairman Terry Guo reportedly said at a recent public event that the company is planning to launch a training program for US-based engineers. These "students" will be brought to Taiwan or China and taught how to communicate in Chinese and given first-hand experience in the manufacturing process. They won't remain overseas indefinitely – Guo said they'll return to the States with "training that can be helpful".

As of November, Foxconn was reportedly in talks with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for recruiting engineers.

Despite rumors that Foxconn will only manufacture LCD TVs here in the States, will the company help Apple manufacture iMacs next year? Apple CEO Tim Cook recently revealed the company's plans to manufacture one of the existing Mac lines here in the States in 2013, a revelation that doesn't seem coincidental when compared to the new Foxconn report.

Cook pointed out that several Apple components are already locally manufactured including the Corning Gorilla Glass protecting touchscreens, and the Apple SoCs serving as the brains of its popular mobile devices. But completed, ready-to-sell devices haven't been made or assembled here in the States since 1994 when the company left its Elk Grove and Fremont, Calif., facilities and switched over to Chinese manufacturing.

Is Apple finally finally bringing work home thanks to Foxconn?


 

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Top Comments
  • 18 Hide
    thillntn , December 7, 2012 3:47 PM
    Come on in, but don't forget the safety nets!
  • 11 Hide
    Azn Cracker , December 7, 2012 3:51 PM
    Yay more low paying jobs!
Other Comments
  • 18 Hide
    thillntn , December 7, 2012 3:47 PM
    Come on in, but don't forget the safety nets!
  • Display all 22 comments.
  • 11 Hide
    Azn Cracker , December 7, 2012 3:51 PM
    Yay more low paying jobs!
  • 3 Hide
    Mathos , December 7, 2012 4:04 PM
    Depends on where they go. If they go to Flint, or Detroit Michigan they could simply buy one of the many mothballed factories and refit it for their needs instead of needing to build new. Plus god only knows, if we start reviving the economy their it'd help the rest of the country. You have to remember, a vast part of our economies backbone use to be in those two cities. Once Flint and Detroit fell, it brought the rest of the country down in a cascade. Most people don't realize the housing bubble collapse started there, about 1 year after the big 3 laid off about 1.8m people total, in those areas.
  • 1 Hide
    igot1forya , December 7, 2012 4:16 PM
    I envision the robot manufacturing plant in iRobot, not a single human in the whole building. That is pretty much the only way to manufacture in the US cheaply... unless they hire children like they do in China.
  • 1 Hide
    omnimodis78 , December 7, 2012 4:23 PM
    How utterly ironic! If you look at any electronic device from the 70s and 80s (and somewhat into the 90s), you'll basically see nearly all components (chips, transistors, boards, etc.) manufactured in Western countries. Seeing "USA", "Canada", "Germany" printed on highly advanced (for its time) components was more common than not. My friend who worked in IT in Beijing in the late 90s and early 2000s tells me that his company made it a point to track down parts that had Canadian made parts (there were a lot more than most Americans care to realize by the way), and Chinese made parts were out of the question as they were all bad investments (this was a Chinese investment firm - 3rd biggest in China at that time). U.S. engineers were THE engineers to kick off the electronic revolution - and to this day they are at the forefront of R&D. The only thing going for these Chinese companies is slave-labour and non-existant labour laws. Remove those, and ALL jobs will migrate back to the West.
  • 1 Hide
    eternalkp , December 7, 2012 4:26 PM
    $999 iphone 6 16gb
  • 1 Hide
    ethanolson , December 7, 2012 4:31 PM
    I don't think people, even the news reporter, recognize that Foxconn already has operations here in the U.S. I'm not opposed to them expanding. They're already in Texas and... shoot... where's the other place. Anyway, they're here. I like @Mathos' idea of them picking up in MI. It'll put them close to A123 batteries, another stateside Chinese-owned operation that needs some help.
  • 2 Hide
    keczapifrytki , December 7, 2012 4:38 PM
    This reminds me of "The Campaign" where they wanted to sell some land to China so they could use Chinese labor with chines rates but in the States.
  • 3 Hide
    keczapifrytki , December 7, 2012 4:39 PM
    thillntnCome on in, but don't forget the safety nets!


    Do you think the people who make the nets also commit suicide because of the horrible labor conditions? I wonder....
  • 1 Hide
    psychotek71 , December 7, 2012 5:00 PM
    i want my suicide nets to overclock and do they play crisis
  • -1 Hide
    bllue , December 7, 2012 5:51 PM
    So a few minimum wage jobs for people to put the last screw in pre-assembled products coming from China? Parts are still made in China. They're trying to sell this as if everything's been made here when it's probably just getting the last step down here (like glueing a screen to the bezel) in the states and call it Made in the USA. In the end the only one who wins here is Apple who will raise prices and put the blame on having US "jobs."
  • 0 Hide
    g-unit1111 , December 7, 2012 6:03 PM
    Great... now we get subjected to low wages, 23 hour shifts, and poor working conditions? Thanks but no thanks.
  • -1 Hide
    whatismyproblem , December 7, 2012 6:39 PM
    I hope the US Committee on Foreign Investment blocks them.
  • 0 Hide
    Mailman377 , December 7, 2012 7:41 PM
    Azn CrackerYay more low paying jobs!

    Better then not having a job.
  • 0 Hide
    jaber2 , December 7, 2012 10:27 PM
    The only reason why there are low paying jobs is because people are desperate and will take them, I don't see them putting up a plant in pro-labor and pro-union state, so hello SE.
  • 0 Hide
    ipwn3r456 , December 7, 2012 11:33 PM
    iMac and iPhone price = Over $9000.
  • 0 Hide
    compuservant , December 8, 2012 12:23 AM
    If they (Tesla Motors) can build the Tesla, the MotorTrend, Car of the Year in the US (yes, it is a high priced luxury car, but it is competing against similarly priced cars), I think they (Apple) can build a highend smartphone in the US for a competitive price. I think it all points to Apple finally using Liquidmetal Technology's injection molding for either the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Foxconn is already having trouble producing iPhone 5's in China fast enough due to the complexity of the build.
    It would be a great PR move and likely guaranty that all the US government agencies dump their BB's for iPhones.
  • -1 Hide
    AndrewMD , December 8, 2012 2:53 AM
    Unless you have been in China, please do not assume or talk about it... US has way more abuses going on in their workplace using children for labor than China. All of the farmers, mom/pop stores, etc use their children all the time...

    There is a reason why so many Chinese actually live in China, obviously our conditions are not that bad! Heck we even have a healthcare system in place to take care of our people!
  • 0 Hide
    spectrewind , December 8, 2012 4:25 AM
    Azn CrackerYay more low paying jobs!


    In the condition where unemployment has run out or the job you get there earns more than unemployment would provide until unemployment benefits do run out, this would work...
  • 0 Hide
    bitmaiden , December 8, 2012 10:32 AM
    psychotek71i want my suicide nets to overclock and do they play crisis

    Was just thinking that.
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