Foxconn

On 5 February 2020, Foxconn started producing medical masks and clothing at its Shenzhen factory in China during the Chinese New Year and the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company initially said the masks it makes would be for internal employee use. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 led to a worldwide spike in demand for masks, resulting in global shortages.

Following almost a year of public controversy regarding its COVID-19 vaccine shortage; in June 2021, Taiwan agreed to allow founder Terry Gou, through his Yongling Foundation charity, to join with contract chip maker TSMC, and negotiate purchasing COVID-19 vaccines on its behalf. In July 2021, BioNTech's Chinese sales agent Fosun Pharma announced that Foxconn and TSMC had reached an agreement to purchase 10 million BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines from Germany for Taiwan. The two technology manufacturers pledged to each buy five million doses for up to $175 million, for donation to Taiwan's vaccination program.

In 2024, Foxconn surpassed expectations with record fourth-quarter revenue.

Another Foxconn factory "city" is located at Zhengzhou Technology Park in Zhengzhou, Henan province, where a reported 120,000 workers were employed as of 2012, later, 200,000 workers were employed as of November 2022. The park produces the bulk of Apple's iPhone line and is sometimes referred to as "iPhone City". Foxconn manufactures iPhones through a division named the integrated Digital Product Business Group (iDPBG).

Events

Foxconn's planned future expansion includes sites at Wuhan in Hubei province, Kunshan in Jiangsu province, Tianjin, Beijing, Huizhou and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, China. A Foxconn branch that primarily manufactures Apple products is Hongfujin.

On 25 May 2016, the BBC reported that Foxconn replaced 60,000 employees because it had automated "many of the manufacturing tasks associated with their operations". The organization later confirmed those claims.

In September 2017, Foxconn agreed with the Nanjing government to invest US$5.7 billion for the development of intelligent terminal devices, LCD development, and other research.

On 21 October 2022, and in response to a Covid outbreak at Zhengzhou Technology Park, Foxconn imposed restrictions on its iPhone assembly plant, with dine-in meal facilities closed. On 31 October 2022, after policies intended to control a Covid outbreak prevented workers from leaving the complex, many workers jumped the fence in order to escape. On 2 November 2022, the government imposed the lockdown to the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, where the Foxconn factory is situated. On 23 November, workers clashed with law enforcement over the harsh COVID restrictions and claims that Foxconn failed to provide the salary packages that were promised to new hires. Videos circulated on Chinese social media depicting law enforcement beating protesting workers as well as large crowds of workers fighting back law enforcement.

Brazil

All company facilities in South America are located in Brazil, and these include mobile phone factories in Manaus and Indaiatuba as well as production bases in Jundiaí, Sorocaba, and Santa Rita do Sapucaí. The company is considering further investments in Brazil.

Europe

Foxconn has factories in Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. As of 2011 it is the second-largest exporter in the Czech Republic.

India

As of early 2015, Foxconn had tied up with Sony for manufacturing their televisions and selling it all over India. Hence, they started a new plant called Competition Team Technology (India) Private Limited in Irungattukottai (near Poonamallee, Chennai) which was later moved to Oragadam (Kanchipuram) in 2019. As of mid-2015, Foxconn was in talks to manufacture Apple's iPhone in India. In 2015, Foxconn announced that it would be setting up twelve factories in India and would create around one million jobs. It also discussed its intent to work with the Adani Group for expansion in the country. In August 2015, Foxconn invested in Snapdeal. In September 2016, Foxconn started manufacturing products with Gionee. In 2017, Foxconn started the production of iPhones in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. In April 2019, Foxconn reported that they are ready to mass-produce newer iPhones in India. Its Chairman, Terry Gou, said that the manufacturing will take place in the southern city of Chennai.

In September 2022, Foxconn signed a deal for a semiconductor plant in Gujarat with an investment of $21 billion, by Vedanta Group. In July 2023, Foxconn made a decision to quit the project, citing a number of issues with Vedanta Group as well as including external ones. In August 2023, during its annual meeting, Foxconn reportedly stated that India at present accounts for more than 5% of the company's business and there is ample space for future investments. Foxconn has set a target to employ 2 million jobs and meet India's target of exporting mobile phones worth $10 billion, both by 2030. To meet these targets, as of September 2023, the company has three manufacturing plants under construction, all in southern India–a component and semiconductor plant near the company's existing plant in Chennai, and two plants each in Bangalore (near its airport) and Hyderabad (Kongara Kalan) for making iPhones, iPads, iPods and AirPods. All three plants are projected to be completed and begin operations by the end of 2024. They will together employ around 400,000 people in the first five years of their operations.

In November 2023, Foxconn announced a $1.54 billion investment in India to "help it fulfil 'operational needs.'" In August 2024, Foxconn showed interest in investing in Hyderabad, as confirmed by the Telangana government. Chairman Young Liu met with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, discussing plans for a new "fourth city" near Hyderabad.

Japan

Foxconn and Sharp Corporation jointly operate two manufacturing plants specializing in 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. The company was believed to be receptive to the plan. The acquisition was completed with a $3.8 billion deal in August 2016.

Malaysia

As of 2011, Foxconn had at least seven factories in the Johor state, at Kulai, where it is developing an industrial park that includes four factories that comprise fully automated assembly lines as well as fully automated packaging lines.

Mexico

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

On 2 June 2022, Foxconn announced that their Mexico-based production plant had been hit by a ransomware attack in late May, disrupting production. The facility affected was located in Tijuana, Baja California and specializes in the production of consumer electronics, medical devices, and industrial products.

South Korea

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

United States

Foxconn announced on 26 July 2017 that it would build a $10 billion TV manufacturing plant in southeastern Wisconsin and would initially employ 3,000 workers (set to increase to 13,000). As part of the agreement, Foxconn was set to receive subsidies ranging from $3 billion to $4.8 billion (paid in increments if Foxconn met certain targets), which would be by far the largest subsidy ever given to a foreign firm in U.S. history. Some estimate that Foxconn is expected to contribute $51.5 billion to Wisconsin's GDP over the next 15 years, which is $3.4 billion annually. However, numerous economists have also expressed skepticism that the benefits would exceed the costs of the deal. Others have noted that Foxconn has made similar claims about job creation in the past which did not come to fruition. Their office building in Milwaukee is the only one in Wisconsin

Foxconn was also exempted by Governor Scott Walker from filing an environmental impact statement, prompting criticism from environmentalists. The plant was estimated to contribute significantly to air pollution in the region. Environmentalists criticised the decision to allow Foxconn to draw 26,000 cubic metres (7×10^6 US gal) of water per day from Lake Michigan. Given water concerns, Foxconn is spending $30 million on zero liquid discharge technology. Foxconn is also required to replace wetlands at a higher ratio than other companies; Foxconn must restore 2 acres of wetland for every 1 acre disturbed instead of the ratio of 1.2 to 1 for other companies.

As of 4 October 2017, Foxconn agreed to locate their plant in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and broke ground for the plant 28 June 2018. President Trump was in attendance to promote American manufacturing.

In January 2019, Foxconn said it was reconsidering its initial plans to manufacture LCD screens at the Wisconsin plant, citing high labour costs in the United States. Under a new agreement announced in April 2021, Foxconn will reduce its planned investment to $672 million with 1,454 new jobs. Tax credits available to the project were reduced to $8 million. In October 2021, Lordstown Motors announced a $250 million deal to sell a former GM plant to Foxconn, which would become a contract assembler for the company's Endurance pickup truck. The deal was completed in May 2022 for a final price of $230 million. It was announced Foxconn would also invest $50 million into the company through a purchase of common stock.

Subsidiaries

FIH Mobile

FIH Mobile is a subsidiary of Foxconn, offering services such as product development and after-sales support. It was incorporated in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands in 2000.

On 18 May 2016, FIH Mobile announced the purchase of Microsoft Mobile's feature phone business. Microsoft Mobile Vietnam is also part of the sale to FIH Mobile, which consists of the Hanoi, Vietnam manufacturing facility. The rest of the business has been sold to a new Finland-based company HMD Global, which started developing and selling new Nokia-branded devices in early 2017. The total sale to both companies amounted to US$350 million. FIH Mobile is now manufacturing new Nokia-branded devices developed by HMD.

Foxtron

Foxtron (鴻華先進科技) is a joint venture of Foxconn and Yulon Group founded in 2020 for vehicular manufacturing and research and development of electric vehicles.

Also in October 2012, there was a crisis concerning an injured worker in which 26-year-old Zhang Tingzhen suffered an electric shock and fell in a factory accident a year earlier. His doctors did immediate surgery to remove part of his brain, "[after which] he lost his memory and can neither speak, walk". When his father attempted to get compensation in 2012, Reuters reported that Foxconn told the family to transport and submit him for a disability assessment in Huizhou 70 km away, or it would cut off funding for his treatment. His doctors protested the move for fear of a brain haemorrhage en route, and the company stated that it was acting within labour laws. His family later sued Foxconn in 2012 and argued in court that Tingzhen had been summoned to the wrong city. In 2014, a court ruled that he had to be assessed in Huizhou to receive compensation, with Foxconn offering a settlement for the father to recant his criticisms, which was refused.

In February 2015, Beijing News reported that an official with the All China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU), Guo Jun, said that Foxconn allegedly forced employees to work overtime, resulting in occasional death by karōshi or suicide. Jun also said that the illegal overtime resulted from a lack of investigation and light punishments. Foxconn, in return, issued a statement questioning Guo's allegations, arguing workers wanted to work overtime to earn more money.

In November 2017, the Financial Times reported that it had found several students working 11-hour days at the iPhone X plant in Henan province, violating the 40-hour-per-week mandate for children. In response, Foxconn announced that it has stopped the interns' illegal overtime work at the factory in which 3,000 students had been hired that September.

Since 2016, Foxconn has been replacing its workforce with robots, which have replaced 50% of Foxconn's labor force in 2016, and there are plans for completely automated factories.

In 2019, a report was issued by Taiwan News stating that some of Foxconn's managers had fraudulently used rejected parts to build iPhones.

In late 2022, working conditions were exacerbated by Zero-COVID policies leading to protests.

Suicides

Suicides among Foxconn workers have attracted the media's attention. Among the first cases to attract attention in the press was the death of Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old man who committed suicide in July 2009 after reporting the loss of an iPhone 4 prototype in his possession. According to The Telegraph, Danyong had been beaten by security guards.

There was also a series of suicides speculatively linked to low pay in 2010, though employees also noted that Foxconn paid higher wages than similar jobs. In reaction to a spate of worker suicides in which 14 people died in 2010, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention netting at the base of buildings in some facilities and promised to offer substantially higher wages at its Shenzhen production bases. In 2011, Foxconn also hired the PR firm Burson-Marsteller to help deal with the negative publicity from the suicides. That year, the nets seemed to help lower the death rate, although at least four employees died by throwing themselves off buildings.

In January 2012, there was a protest by workers about conditions in Wuhan, with 150 workers threatening to commit mass suicide if factory conditions were not improved. In 2012 and into 2013, three young Foxconn employees were reported to have died by jumping off buildings. In September 2014, employee and poet Xu Lizhi jumped to his death four days after signing a new three-year contract; his poems, published posthumously by friends, received widespread media attention. In January 2018, another suicide was reported by a factory worker, after 31-year old Li Ming jumped to his death off a building in Zhengzhou, where the iPhone X was being manufactured.

The Wisconsin Valley Project

The project originally committed in 2017 to investing $10 billion and employing up to 13,000 workers but has now shrunk to $672 million with 1,454 jobs.

Food poisoning

On 15 December 2021, 256 workers at Foxconn's Sriperumbudur factory developed Acute Diarrhoeal Disease due to food poisoning after eating food at the company-provided hostel. As a result of which, 159 workers were hospitalized. The workers were provided no information about this, due to which a rumor started spreading among the workers through WhatsApp that two workers had died. By 17 December there were sit-in protests in worker dormitories, by 10 pm of the same day, thousands of women workers of the factory staged protests on the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway, this was met by police detention of 67 women protestors and arrest of one journalist, with many of them being released a day later. Following the protests the factory was shut down for a week, with the state government and district administration investigating the worker conditions.

On 22 December the Food Safety Department sealed the kitchen of the dormitory finding rats and poor drainage. The rooms provided to workers were overcrowded, with them being forced to sleep on the floor, some even lacking toilets with a running water supply. Following the revelation of substandard living conditions, on 29 December Apple put the Foxconn plant on probation, with both Apple and Foxconn issuing statements on the dormitory and dining rooms conditions. In January 2022, after assuring Apple and the Tamil Nadu government that it had taken the necessary corrective measures, Foxconn began reopening its factory and resuming work in phases.