Sam Oliver
Foxconn, Apple's Taiwan-based manufacturing partner, is said to be planning to establish manufacturing plants in America, and is evaluating sites in Los Angeles, Calif., and Detroit, Mich.
The rumored manufacturing plants are expected to focus on building LCD television sets, according to a report published Thursday by hit-or-miss industry publication DigiTimes. Citing "market watchers," the report suggested that the plants will not be used to manufacture Apple products, because the work is "rather complicated.
The rumored expansion of Foxconn to America comes as the company's chairman, Terry Gou, also reportedly said at a public event that his company is planning a training program for U.S.-based engineers. Through a planned partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Foxconn hopes to bring American engineers to Taiwan or China to be involved in product design and manufacturing.
Based in Taiwan, Foxconn has a number of manufacturing plants in China where it assembles devices for a number of large electronics companies, including Apple. But Apple has come under fire from critics who disapprove of Foxconn's use of cheap foreign labor.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook visited a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China, earlier this year.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was asked earlier this year about the possibility of manufacturing his company's products in America. He said he would like for Apple products to be made stateside, but he also noted that critics have placed an "intense focus" on final assembly, while there is a great deal more to creating devices than just that one step.
A report from AppleInsider in July noted that some of Apple's key component suppliers have begun increasing their U.S.-based production. But because those companies frequently assemble components around the world, it's unknown just how much of a device like the iPhone is truly made in America.
Foxconn has begun expanding outside of China and the Far East in recent years, most notably with a new plant in Brazil that manufactures iPads for Apple.
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Sponsored Content
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
72 Comments
Oh, no! Americans as slave labor! 80 hour work days! Three dollars compensation!
Nice of you to be so generous.
Oh, no! Americans as slave labor! 80 hour work days! Three dollars compensation!
Nice of you to be so generous.
I read one report that said that in 30 years North America will become the manufacturing base for cheap goods sold to China while China will become the exporter of high end machinery. A total reverse of today.
[quote name="Tallest Skil" url="/t/154160/rumor-foxconn-plans-to-build-manufacturing-plants-in-us#post_2229389"]Nice of you to be so generous.[/quote] Overly so. I think the descriptive phrases they're looking for is "almost always wrong", "predictably wrong", "consistently wrong" or a similar variation thereof.
Digitimes as a source. Take it with a salt lick And where are the critics to blast the other 80 ish clients that use Foxconn for their American sold products. Totally mum. Easy money your Surface wasn't 100% made in the USA, for example
Back in the day TV sets were made in USA... but what about iPhones made it in USA?... (just replace iPhone with iTV... LOL) right... now lets Cue the union problems, the supply problems (caused by the competitors.. because their phones are made in China ) the theft problems or should I say shrinkage problems, who is going to pay for the capital infrastructure?... And getting the government to place a tariff on the Chinese made Apple products coming in, due to those Chinese made Apple products will be cheaper than the US-made product... The problems with productivity of US citizens compared to the Chinese counterparts Because the US citizens are paid more compared to the Chinese... If there are approximately 300 steps to make an iPhone and each step takes a minute, thats five hours.. if the minimum wage is $10 let's say that's $50 extra for each phone... So if you add $50 to every Chinese iPhone it will same price... but really are Americans going to pay extra?.. Not a chance ... There is more chance that you will be paying alot more taxes in the next eight years... /Pointless rambling