China has detained four Taiwanese employees at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, the largest iPhone production facility in the world, responsible for around 80% of global production.
The employees were detained using powers the Chinese government last year granted to itself. No specific reason has yet been given, but it seems likely the move is political …
Expand Expanding Close
A report earlier this week said that plans for Apple’s first robot product have been accelerating, in the form of a hybrid iPad/HomePod product.
A supply-chain report now says that Foxconn has been commissioned by Apple to make the robot arm and casings for the device …
Expand Expanding Close
iPhone 16 production is now said to have ramped up to peak production, with Foxconn taking on an extra 50,000 workers in its largest assembly plant.
The company last month increased both base pay and bonuses to help it recruit enough new workers to meet what is expected to be increased demand this year …
Expand Expanding Close
Vietnamese officials have asked Apple supplier Foxconn to voluntarily reduce power usage by 30% at its northern assembly plants to prevent power shortages like last summer, which led to over a billion dollars in lost output.
Expand Expanding Close
A new report says that one in seven iPhones are now made in India – pointing to a significant acceleration in Apple’s work to reduce its dependence on China.
Apple’s reliance on China as its key manufacturing hub has been placing the company in an increasingly vulnerable position …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams is in Taiwan as a guest of honor for Foxconn’s 50th anniversary celebrations. He’s reportedly joined by his deputy, Sabih Khan.
The rare visit is likely a compromise, enabling the occasion to be marked while CEO Tim Cook continues his policy of avoiding visits to the island …
Expand Expanding Close
We’re today learning of a major acceleration in plans to shift more production of Apple devices from China to India. In less than one year, Foxconn has increased its planned investment in an Indian plant by almost 400%.
It follows a recent report that Apple has told its battery suppliers that it would like as many iPhone 16 batteries as possible to be manufactured in India …
Expand Expanding Close
iPhone assembler Foxconn had already predicted “significant growth” during the holiday quarter, but now says that October and November have been even stronger than expected.
The company told investors that its November revenue hit T$650 billion ($20.65 billion), the second highest on record for the month …
Expand Expanding Close
Foxconn founder Terry Gou has withdrawn his bid to become the next president of Taiwan, issuing a somewhat opaque statement which included the phrase “stop, reset, restart.”
Whatever Gou’s exact meaning, it seems that he is out of the race for good this time around – which will likely come as a relief to Apple execs concerned about potential retaliation by China …
Expand Expanding Close
A new report has criticized Foxconn’s decarbonization credentials, rating the iPhone assembler at D-plus – the second lowest rating of any final assembly company. The rating is likely to focus attention on the feasibility of Apple’s environmental commitment to make its entire supply chain carbon-neutral by 2030.
Greenpeace issued its report just ahead of the upcoming United Nations COP 28 climate summit, which will review progress made toward the world’s collective climate goals …
Expand Expanding Close
In the second piece of somewhat gloomy iPhone news this morning, Foxconn revenue will fall during the holiday quarter, according to the company. This contrasts with its earlier forecast of growth.
More than half of that revenue comes from Apple, as the Cupertino company faces a triple challenge in China …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has already found itself impacted by a diplomatic row between the US and China, and now faces the prospect of being caught up in politics between China and Taiwan. A Chinese investigation of Foxconn has been announced by state media.
Update: China has today described the investigation as a routine police matter, but has not directly addressed the widespread belief that it is attempting to apply political pressure – more at the bottom …
Expand Expanding Close
An Indian iPhone plant run by Foxconn was temporarily closed down back in 2021 due to major health infractions in worker accommodation – including the presence of rats, food crawling with worms, and toilets without running water.
Now for the first time, we’re learning of the findings of a subsequent government inspection, which revealed many more safety infractions within the plant itself, some of which were described as “highly hazardous” to the health of workers …
Expand Expanding Close
As Apple prepares to launch the iPhone 15 this fall, its key manufacturing partner Foxconn is cranking up hiring across its factories in China.
Expand Expanding Close
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant – colloquially known as iPhone City – appears to be struggling to recruit and retain enough staff. The company is reported to have raised iPhone worker bonuses three times in one month as it preps for mass-production of the iPhone 15.
In particular, Foxconn is offering substantial incentives for remaining on the production line for at least three months, to see it through the busiest period, and avoid a repetition of last year’s major disruption …
Expand Expanding Close
The Indian government has today announced that Foxconn has broken ground on $500M worth of new iPhone plants in Telangana, in the south of the country, as Apple continues its efforts to move more production out of China.
At least one of the plants is also expected to manufacture AirPods, after Apple offered Foxconn a new contract for these back in March …
Expand Expanding Close
Act surprised! There’s a potential snag in the plan for Apple chips to be made in the US by TSMC. The company’s A-series and M-series chipmaker says that the US government is imposing “unacceptable” conditions on the two TSMC Arizona plants it is building.
TSMC is said to have been offered tax credits worth $7-8 billion, but a new report says it is looking for the government to double its incentives to around $15B, and to waive the profit-sharing terms attached to the CHIPS Act …
Expand Expanding Close
iPhone assembler Foxconn last week reported a 21% year-on-year fall in revenue in March, and we’re today learning Apple chipmaker TSMC revenue also fell in the same month – by 15%.
While there are reasons to be cautious about reading too much into these results, it is near-certain that they give at least some clue as to Apple’s current fortunes …
Expand Expanding Close
Foxconn revenue for March were reported today, and revenue for the iPhone assembler shows a year-on-year fall of 21.1%.
The company says that it also expects a decline during the current quarter …
Expand Expanding Close
A new Foxconn plant in India looks set to be about half the size of the massive iPhone assembly facility in Zhengzhou, China – colloquially known as iPhone City.
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant employs around 200,000 people, and the new Indian facility is said to be creating around 100,000 jobs. It may also represent a key step in Apple building out an extended supply chain in India …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple manufacturing in Vietnam is set to expand, as the Cupertino company continues working on reducing its dependence on China. The 2023 Mac Pro looks likely to be one of the products assembled there, which would mean Apple dropping the “Made in USA” tag used for the 2019 model.
Foxconn already makes iPads and AirPods in Vietnam, but so far hasn’t begun iPhone or Mac assembly in the country …
Expand Expanding Close
A piece on a change of leadership in Foxconn’s iPhone assembly business includes an eye-opening insight into the iPhone quality standards laid down by Apple.
The new head of iPhone assembly said that while production lines for Chinese Android phones required only 100 workers each, the equivalent iPhone production lines needed 1,200 workers …
Expand Expanding Close
Foxconn has begun the very first stage of iPhone 15 production, in the form of initial trial production. This stage is formally known as new production introduction, or NPI.
The NPI stage is designed to identify any problems with the planned production process, as well as to identify opportunities for refinement and streamlining …
Expand Expanding Close