This article is more than 1 year old

iPhone maker Foxconn hatching US factory expansion plan?

US plants won't build Apple kit – that's too complex for Americans

Updated Foxconn, the employee-infuriating, child-employing, and brain-damaging manufacturer of kit for Apple, Amazon, Sony, Nintendo, and others, is exploring the possibility of building plants in the US – Detroit and Los Angeles, to be specific.

At least that's what unnamed "market watchers" have told DigiTimes, the Taiwanese online tech-news service with what might most kindly be called a somewhat spotty record when it comes to rumor accuracy.

Those aforementioned market watchers, however, say not to expect your next iPhone or iPad to be made in America – Apple products are too complex to be built by mere 'Mercans.

"Since the manufacturing of Apple's products is rather complicated," DigiTimes reports, "the market watchers expect the rumored plants to focus on LCD TV production, which can be highly automated and easier."

If DigiTimes' sources are correct, therefore, don't expect Foxconn's US expansion to make much of a dent in the unemployment rates in Detroit or Los Angeles, which hover around 18 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

In related news, DigiTimes reports that Foxconn chairman Terry Guo is in talks with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a program in which US engineers would travel to Taiwan or China to study design and manufacturing techniques.

Those chosen few would also have the opportunity to learn the Chinese language, a skill that would come in handy when they return to the US and take their place underneath their new Foxconn overlords in Detroit, Los Angeles, or who knows where else in the future. ®

Update

On Friday, the Detroit Free Press reported that they had received an email from a Foxconn representative denying that the company is evaluating that city as a possible site for a new US plant. "Foxconn Technology Group already has multiple facilities based in the U.S.," the spokeswoman wrote, "and there are no current plans to expand our operations there at this time." She did, however, acknowledge that the company is looking into a technical exchange program for US engineers, as mentioned above.

Should the Foxconn rep not be merely blowing smoke, chalk this one up as "busted" on your DigiTimes rumor scorecard.

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like