The founder of Foxconn, whose biggest customer, Apple, helped it rise to be the world’s top contract electronics manufacturer, says he plans to step aside to allow a younger executive to take over.
CEO Terry Gou did not give a timeline when he confirmed to a Reuters reporter his plans to resign from the Taiwan-based company he started with a loan from his mom around the same time Steve Jobs launched Apple.
This post was going to be part of my new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, but was cut for length or continuity. Over the next week or so, we will be publishing several more sections that were cut, focusing mostly on geeky details of Apple’s manufacturing operations.
Foxconn was founded around the same time as Apple, although 6,000 miles away on the other side of the world. In 1974, when 19-year-old Steve Jobs was working at Atari, 24-year-old Terry Gou borrowed $7,500 ($37,000 in today’s money) from his mother to start up a business.
This post was going to be part of my new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, but was cut for length or continuity. Over the next week or so, we will be publishing several more sections that were cut, focusing mostly on geeky details of Apple’s manufacturing operations.
As iPhone growth exploded, Apple struggled to keep up with demand. Every year, the number of iPhones sold would double, which meant that Apple kept adding new suppliers and assembly operations to keep up. It was a monumental struggle.
This post was going to be part of my new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, but was cut for length or continuity. Over the next week or so, we will be publishing several more sections that were cut, focusing mostly on geeky details of Apple’s manufacturing operations.
A good measure of the size of Apple’s manufacturing operations is its capital expenditure, the amount of money spends on things like buildings and equipment.
Apple’s capital expenditure, or CapEx, is mindboggling. To get an idea of how big it is, take Apple’s new spaceship campus in Cupertino – which is the fourth most expensive building in the world. It cost the company an estimated $5 billion to construct.
Apple spends a similar amount every six months on manufacturing equipment.
Apple is preparing an entry-level “iPhone XE” that will be introduced this fall, according to a sketchy new report.
The device is claimed to be an iPhone SE successor with huge improvements, including an edge-to-edge display and Face ID. It could also pack Apple’s latest A12 Bionic processor.
Foxconn is reportedly “within weeks” of starting trial production of the iPhone XS in India, Bloomberg reports.
Manufacturing will take place at a Foxconn factory in the southern city of Chennai. Rival manufacturer Wistron already makes the iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and — now — the iPhone 7 at its own facility in Bangalore.
Being an Apple supplier can be a curse as much as a blessing for some Chinese companies.
While earning Apple’s business can give a big boost to a company’s stock, a new study found that Apple’s suppliers saw their share prices drop significantly lower than Apple’s stock did during the recent iPhone sales slump.
Over the years, Apple took heavy criticism for employing an offshore supply chain rife with abuse. The company is still stained by the rash of worker suicides in 2010 at Foxconn, its main supplier.
But as Apple’s latest Supplier Responsibility report shows, the company continues to make remarkable strides to improve conditions for workers and the environment.
Reduced iPhone demand in China has hit Foxconn employees’ salaries and benefits, according to a new report.
A number of workers say that their salaries were reduced at the end of last year, due to a smaller number of working hours available. There has also not been the usual Foxconn recruitment drive, which was previously an expected part of the iPhone manufacturing process.
Huawei may have overtaken Apple in terms of overall smartphone sales, but it apparently believes it’s still got a lot to learn from the Cupertino giant.
According to a new report, Huawei tried to glean information about future Apple products from supply chain sources. This information included details about the Apple Watch’s heart rate-tracking tech and MacBook Pro connector cables.
More and more Apple suppliers are considering building devices in India, and a new concession might make that possibility even more plausible.
According to a new report, India has deferred a plan which would have introduced tax on touch panel imports. These tariffs were supposed to be introduced in February, but have supposedly been delayed until at least April 2020. This follows lobbying from smartphone makers.
Apple supplier Foxconn may be rethinking its U.S. manufacturing plans in Wisconsin, but the Taiwan-based company wants people to know it’s serious about delivering the jobs it promised.
Responding to a recent report, Foxconn says it will keep its promise to create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin.
Japanese electronics firm Sharp, owned by Apple supplier Foxconn, is supposedly working to enter the supply chain for future iPhones boasting OLED displays.
The news comes shortly after a report claiming that Apple plans to include all OLED displays in its 2020 iPhone lineup. Currently it includes a mix of LCD and OLED models. As a result of the increased focus on OLED displays, a number of companies are supposedly gearing up their OLED panel production capability.
Apple is hoping to secure new tax incentives in India that will allow it to increase local iPhone production and export more devices to be sold in other countries.
The company has teamed up with other large names in the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to propose a raise in export credits on smartphone shipments, as well as tariff cuts on imports of components and machinery.
The group argues that manufacturing growth cannot be sustained and accelerated without the changes.
A recent unconfirmed report indicated that Foxconn, who produces handsets for Apple, had laid off thousands of employees. But the company itself says it’s actually hiring 50,000 people, a sign that iPhone sales aren’t a weak as some fear.
Still, there are indications of a slowdown in Foxconn production, just not a dramatic one.
Apple supplier Foxconn is reportedly showing more interest in manufacturing iPhones in India, a new report claims.
The move would reduce Apple’s reliance on China at a time in which turbulence in the Chinese market, both from customers and potentially trade tariffs, is causing headaches in Cupertino.
Foxconn, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner, has cut 50,000 workers ahead of schedule as a result of weak iPhone demand.
The first cuts came last October, months before Foxconn typically scales back its workforce in preparation for slow season, according to a source familiar with the move. It is believed that Foxconn isn’t the only Apple supplier making cuts, either.
Slowing iPhone sales aren’t just bad news for Apple.
Foxconn, the company’s largest manufacturing partner, is also suffering as a result of weakening iPhone demand, with revenue for December falling 8.3 percent year-over-year.
It’s the first time Foxconn has experienced a drop in revenue in almost a year.
Apple is expanding iPhone manufacturing in India, including building its flagship handsets, a new report claims. This will supposedly be carried out at a Foxconn plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
To accommodate the new manufacturing lines, Foxconn will invest an additional $356 million to expand the factory. At present, it builds phones for Xiaomi at the plant.
iPhone suppliers will reportedly consider moving away from China is U.S. trade tariffs hit 25 percent.
Sources say they will remain even if the U.S. introduces a 10 percent tax on smartphones, but they could be forced to “reassess the situation” should the Trump administration impose a higher rate on imported goods.
A pair of companies critical in producing the iPhone enjoyed very strong sales in November. While not definite, this is a clear hint that the recent pessimism about sales of Apple’s handsets is unjustified.
Apple’s share price has dropped about 25 percent in the past couple of months on previous equally vague but negative reports.
iPhone assembly partner Foxconn is considering the possibility of opening a new facility in Vietnam in an effort to avoid U.S. trade tariffs.
The factory would focus specifically on iPhone production, according to a new report. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc says talks with Foxconn are underway.
There’s a good chance the iPhone and other Apple products will be hit with tariffs in the Trump administration’s trade war with China. The president has repeatedly stated his simple solution: Make the iPhone in the United States.
But an analyst warns that moving assembly of Apple’s handsets to the U.S. would significantly increase their price.
Apple’s biggest supplier, Foxconn, is having to shed a whole lot of costs. According to an internal company memo, it aims to cut 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) from its expenses in 2019.
This is supposedly because it faces, “a very difficult and competitive year” — although it does not expand on exactly what this means.
Apple’s top manufacturing partner Foxconn is denying a recent report from the Wall Street Journal that the company is looking to staff its new Wisconsin plant with employees from China.
Foxconn allegedly plans to bring engineers to fill a gap in prospective talent due to a tight labor market, the Journal claims. The plant has already been scaled back in size. Adding Chinese laborers instead of creating American jobs would certainly cause even more controversy.