Despite all the headaches over a rash of worker suicides, Foxconn should be resting easier today. Instead of headlines about overworked iPod assemblers jumping to their death, the electronics factory is being hailed as manufacturing half of the world’s electronics. The company, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industries, seems to have caught a ride on a rocket – Apple.
“Foxconn’s customers are some of the hottest companies in the electronics business today, most notably Apple,” iSuppli associate Thomas Dinges said Wednesday. Foxconn, with a little help from the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker, posted nearly triple the revenue of it’s closest rival for first place. Foxconn, based in Taiwan, earned $17.1 billion in the second quarter, massively overshadowing No. 2 Flextronics International, which reported $5.9 billion.
Why is Apple so important to Foxconn’s rise? A few numbers are telling. Foxconn makes Apple’s two hottest products, the iPhone and iPad. Apple shipped 12.9 million of the tablets this year, but that figure is expected to nearly triple to 36.5 million in 2011, according to iSuppli. Likewise, iPhone shipments were 25.1 million in 2009 and expected to reach 53.5 million in 2011.
We often write about Apple’s influence on the electronics market, either raising hopes or dashing dreams of companies manufacturing memory or other components needed to build today’s consumer electronics. Here’s more concrete evidence of Apple’s growing power to impact manufacturing: by 2011, Apple will be the world second-largest buyer of electronics.
[9to5Mac]
