Foxconn Technology Group has opened a new factory in the city of Zhèngzhōu (郑州), my soon-to-be new home, located in Henan Province.
Foxconn has been shifting some of its manufacturing from the southern, coastal city of Shenzhen inland, having already opened a plant in Chongqing and investing in Chengdu.
Foxconn is a multinational, Taiwan-based company which basically acts a a subcontractor, manufacturing electronics and computer products for other companies. The new $100 million factory in Zhengzhou will mainly produce Apple iPhones and is expected to crank out about 200,000 iPhones a day. The plant is starting out with about 900 workers, but is anticipated to grow to as much as 150,000 eventually.
Foxconn has been shifting some of its manufacturing from the southern, coastal city of Shenzhen inland, having already opened a plant in Chongqing and investing in Chengdu.
Foxconn has been the subject of criticism in China after 10 workers committed suicide in its Shenzhen facilities from July 2009 to May 2010, allegedly due to harsh working condition. Foxconn responded by increasing pay twice since then.
Henan Province is the most populous province in China with over 100 million people so it has a substantial workforce.Additionally, the cost of living in Henan is generally lower than coastal cities such as Shenzhen where rapid industrialization has resulted in increasing wages. Foxconn will reportedly pay workers in Zhengzhou the same wage rates as it pays in Shenzhen, so the lower cost of living will benefit Zhengzhou workers.
Posts
