“Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which assembles gadgets for Apple Inc. and other global technology firms, is evaluating a plan to build an advanced display manufacturing plant in the U.S., its chairman said,” Lorraine Luk reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Terry Gou, speaking to reporters at the company’s 40th anniversary gathering on Sunday, said Hon Hai, also known by the trade name Foxconn, plans to relocate capital-intensive and high-tech manufacturing to the U.S., its largest market,” Luk reports. “‘Automation, software and technology innovation will be our key focus in the U.S. in the coming few years,’ Mr. Gou said.”
“In November, the company said it might invest $40 million in manufacturing and research facilities in Pennsylvania,” Luk reports. “Mr. Gou said Sunday Hon Hai is studying the feasibility of building an advanced 10th-generation panel manufacturing plant in the U.S. Such facilities can churn out liquid display screens larger than 60 inches. He said it is currently difficult to ship large TV screens to the U.S. from Asia. In 2012, Mr. Gou agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Sharp Corp.’s advanced panel-making plant in Sakai, Japan… Hon Hai has currently has production sites in more than 10 countries, including China, Vietnam, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and Hungary.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple iTV. Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in Pennsylvania?
Apple iTV. Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in Pennsylvania. Built by robots.
Watched by robots as well!
Alright. and so what, why not. Better than ‘abusing’ real people.
I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with them being built by robots. Minimising the need for a large unskilled workforce is the only way that this sort of manufacturing is going to be viable in developed countries these days, but there will be skilled jobs too in those plants, which would otherwise have been overseas.
How will raising the minimum wage (MW) work for robots.
MW is great for unions and losers.
Minimum wage is also good for the people who are making minimum wage, you know? And virtually NONE of those are union members.
But you need to THANK those union members for things you figure you’ve earned on your own: sick days, vacations, weekends, overtime, and so on…
I’ve never been in a union, but I support organizing efforts and think America needs MORE unions, especially at employers like Amazon and WalMart.
America does not need more Unions. Unions had thier place in history during the industrial revolution ensuring workers where not mistreated. We now have many government agencies that police this. Unions now do nothing to companies except kill them or reduce thier competitiveness.
Unions are a cancer on society. As a relic of history unions are as dead as a dodo. Praising unions by bringing up historical subtexts is about as relevant as saying that the death penalty should be brought back because crime was lower in the 1900’s.
Next, you’ll be thanking the British for colonising America.
1. Unions end up controlling the market- so it’s not always a good thing. Any non unionized group will never have a stab at a larger project in a democratically controlled state. Especially in the construction end, and I know this because I’ve worked in it.
2. Amazon pays very well. I have a friend who works there as a manager for a facility. They can pay on average from 12-18 hr depending on the job position, especially when it’s in a town of say 3000 people. Thats pretty good when the cost of living is incredibly cheap in those areas. (Like, a home costing about $50k)
Why do they keep doing this? It should read:
Acer, Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry, Cisco, Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Sony and many more assembler Foxconn… etc.
Pure and simple clickbaiting. Out of all those companies just seeing the name Apple will automatically get more attention and clicks. It’s biased news reporting even though Apple parts do get assembled at Foxconn. If someone suffers or dies at Foxconn, it’s always as though Apple is at somehow behind it. It’s possible that Apple is Foxconn’s largest client so that may play a role in using Apple as a target of all employee misfortune.
I’m happy to some degree that Foxconn is bringing back some overseas assembly to the U.S. but Wall Street is still going to punish Apple for lost profit margins and as an Apple shareholder I’ll have to eat that loss. Meanwhile Samsung is on the hunt in Vietnam to drastically cut labor and manufacturing costs.
I had no idea there was such a large American market for 60″ TVs. Most of the people I know only have in the 47″ range. Maybe because their rooms aren’t all that large as far as viewing distance is concerned.
LB this will be a 4K screen plant
You can be as close as 48″ from the screen to devour all those wonderful pixels.
They’re also looking at other 3rd world countries with no regulation and low minimum wages.
The sad fact is, as an article in today’s NYTs shows, we are now a third rate manufacturing nation, and it’s become cheaper to hire labor here than in other countries, especially in the EU. Plus, also sadly, these will be highly subsidized plants with public funds, and will not put much of a dent in the unemployment figures.
After Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett requested a response by noon tomorrow regarding Hon Hai’s commitment, Mr. Gou answered, “Governor, you can have my answer now, if you’d like…My offer is this: Nothing—not even the $40 million for the factory, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.”
???
Really?