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This is really interesting and I somehow missed it when it started 11 days ago. Chinese state media announced that Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is China’s number one employer and the builder of a majority of Apple’s iPhones, was being investigated by various Chinese authorities.Chinese mainland tax authorities have conducted tax inspections on key enterprises of Foxconn in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, among other places, in accordance with the law, and the natural resources department has also conducted on-site investigations into the land use of key enterprises of Foxconn in Henan and Hubei provinces, the Global Times has learned...

Electric Vehicle maker Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC) announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday despite receiving millions in taxpayer funding through tax breaks and grants. LMC received $4.5 million from JobsOhio, a private nonprofit that collects funds through a government-mandated monopoly on spirituous liquor sales, according to Cleveland.com, and $20 million in tax credits to be paid out over 15 years by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, according to Business Journal Daily. LMC also received a $40 million loan from the previous owner of the plant, General Motors, who received $60 million in subsidies from the state of...

Environmentalists and trucking industry groups sparred with clean air regulators today over a contentious proposal to phase out California’s big rigs and other trucks with internal combustion engines, and force manufacturers to speed mass-production of electric trucks. The California Air Resources Board held its first public hearing on rules that would ban manufacturers from selling any new fossil-fueled medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks by 2040. The new rules would also require large trucking companies to convert their fleets to electric models, buying more over time until all are zero-emission by 2042. The move is part of the state’s wider strategy to...

“We are igniting a new industry and an ecosystem that attracts international and local investments and creates job opportunities for local talent,” the crown prince said Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday launched Ceer, the first Saudi electric vehicle brand. Ceer is the first Saudi automotive brand to produce electric vehicles in the Kingdom, and will design, manufacture, and sell a range of vehicles including sedans and sports utility vehicles for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa region, Saudi Press Agency reported. The brand will contribute to Saudi Arabia’s automotive manufacturing sector...

U.S. electric truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors (RIDE.O) filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday and put itself up for sale after failing to resolve a dispute over a promised investment from Taiwan's Foxconn (2354.TW). Shares of Lordstown tumbled 35% in trading on the Nasdaq. The company's bankruptcy is not the first among the crop of EV startups that went public during the pandemic-era SPAC boom. But Lordstown was a high-profile member of that class because it was challenging the core of the legacy Detroit automakers' business of high-margin pickup trucks, and because of its location. "The bankruptcy of Lordstown signals that...

Apple will manufacture iPhones at a new plant in India, officials said Friday, as the US tech giant seeks to ramp up its India production and diversify away from China. The flagship mobile's global supply chain is based mainly in China, where strict Covid policies last year and ongoing diplomatic tensions with the United States have hurt production. "Apple phones to be built in the state soon," Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai tweeted on Friday. "Apart from creating about 100,000 jobs, it will create a whole lot of opportunities for Karnataka," he added. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's minister of...

Lordstown Motors said Thursday it will suspend production and deliveries of its all-electric Endurance pickup to address performance and quality issues with certain components. The electric vehicle startup, which partnered with Foxconn for vehicle production at an Ohio plant, said the team is working with suppliers on the root cause analysis of each issue and potential solutions, which “in some cases may include part design modifications, retrofits, and software updates.”

Image Credits: Lordstown Motors Lordstown Motors has starting shipping its all-electric Endurance pickup trucks manufactured by Foxconn, a milestone that seemed impossible earlier this year. Lordstown Motors, which has experienced investigations, executive upheaval and a shortage of capital, said Tuesday that its full-sized EV truck received full homologation with certification from both the EPA and CARB that clears the way for the company to start customer sales. The first batch of 500 EV pickups, made at an Ohio factory now owned by Taiwanese hardware manufacturing company Foxconn, are on their way to fleet customers, according to the company. The announcement...

Foxconn has offered to pay newly recruited workers 10,000 yuan ($1,400) to quit and leave the world’s largest iPhone assembly factory, in an attempt to quell protests that saw hundreds clash with security forces at the compound in central China. The Apple supplier made the offer Wednesday following dramatic scenes of violent protests on its campus in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, in a text message sent from its human resources department to workers. In the message, seen by CNN, the company urged workers to “please return to your dormitories” on the campus. It also promised to pay them...

Workers in a manufacturing facility in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou appear to have left to avoid COVID-19 curbs, with many traveling on foot for days after an unknown number of employees were quarantined in the facility after a virus outbreak. Videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms showed people who are allegedly Foxconn workers climbing over fences and carrying their belongings down the road. The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, is one of the largest factories in China that assembles products for Apple Inc., including its latest iPhone 14 devices. Not all the videos that showed workers...

The world’s largest iPhone factory, run by Foxconn Technology Group in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, has imposed tough Covid-19 control policies, such as closing its dine-in canteen, to keep production running normally amid a fresh outbreak that has put part of the city under lockdown. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou campus, which has about 300,000 workers, has banned all eating in and asked workers to take their meals back to their dormitories starting from 3pm on Wednesday, according to a notice on the factory’s official WeChat account. The company will provide three meals to the workers for free, and some departments,...

China is losing its influence; it’s in decline. At the same time, however, China, ruled by a despotic regime, is responsible for 28.7 percent of global manufacturing output (more than 10 percentage points ahead of its No. 1 rival, the United States). This utter dependence on China for manufacturing must be stopped. As I write this, three countries are working to siphon customers away from China. Will their efforts prove to be successful?I speak from experience when I say the following: communist China is not a fun place to live in. Moreover, with its frequent power cuts and the Chinese...

Dear liberals: Pretty soon, your iPhone could be assembled in a country where homosexuality is punishable by death, and religious dissidents are sometimes beheaded. In what could be a victory for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s effort to attract tech companies to help diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil and gas, Foxconn, the Taiwanese consumer tech giant that’s one of Apple’s biggest contractors, has reportedly submitted a proposal to build a $9 billion factory in the Kingdom. WSJ reports that the kingdom “is reviewing an offer from the company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, to build a...

Chinese officials on Monday reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities.China is facing its worst COVID crisis since early 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan and its surrounding province. Two years on, it's now sending tens of millions of people into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, where 24 million people live, and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively. China, the last major country to relentlessly pursue a Covid-zero policy, reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities on Monday....

Chinese tech manufacturer Foxconn has halted production of Apple products at its factory in Shenzhen, after 17 million people were put in a new covid lockdown. Restrictions on movement were spread across Shanghai and other major cities to combat an outbreak challenging the nation's zero-tolerance Covid strategy. Shenzhen, a major technology hub, imposed its measures on Sunday, to counter an Omicron outbreak in factories and neighbourhoods linked to nearby Hong Kong, which is recording scores of daily deaths due to the virus running rampant. Foxconn, based in the tech hub, suspended all operations as the restrictions mean all non-essential businesses...

Beijing's decision to lock down 17.5 million people in China's de facto 'tech capital' of Shenzhen is already creating serious problems for global supply chains.Now, it appears that among the earliest casualties of this latest lockdown is the perennially popular iPhone. Because, as Bloomberg reports, Apple supplier Foxconn has been forced to scale back production at two sites used to make iPhones due to the lockdowns.The firm is shifting production away from two campuses in the area to try and reduce the impact from the lockdown.The Taiwanese company, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has its China headquarters...

"There is no way the United States can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without looking at how Americans drive," Schumer says. ========================================================================= Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says every vehicle on the road should be fully electric by 2040. "There is no way the United States can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without looking at how Americans drive," Schumer said on Tuesday. "So I have put forward an ambitious, comprehensive proposal to accelerate our country's transition to zero-emission vehicles. We've called it Clean Cars for America. "The goal of that plan is that by 2040, all vehicles should be...

The super-sophisticated malware that infiltrated Kaspersky Labs is more crafty than first imagined. We're told that the Duqu 2.0 software nasty was signed using legit digital certificates issued to Foxconn – a world-leading Chinese electronics manufacturer, whose customers include Microsoft, Dell, Google, BlackBerry, Amazon, Apple, and Sony. The code-signing was uncovered by researchers at Kaspersky Lab, who are studying their Duqu 2.0 infection. Windows trusts Foxconn-signed code because the Chinese goliath's certificate was issued by VeriSign, which is a trusted certificate root. Thus, the operating system will happily load and run the Foxconn-signed Duqu 2.0's 64-bit kernel-level driver without setting...

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab announced that it has detected an intrusion into its own systems, and you'll never believe who the company thinks is behind it. CEO Eugene Kaspersky claims a nation-state hacked into his company's network in order to steal information about its technologies. The unidentified hackers exploited security flaws in Microsoft Software Installer files to infect Kaspersky's network with malware. Kaspersky is referring to the malware as "Duqu 2.0", because it appears to be tied to the same cybercriminals that used Duqu malware to attack Iran, India, France and Ukraine a few years ago. Back then, the hackers...

WisDOT has wrapped up its long-awaited reconstruction of Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line on schedule and on budget. Michael Pyritz, regional communications manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s southeast region, said work on the final 18.5-mile stretch of the reconstruction project was deemed “substantially complete” earlier this week. He said WisDOT’s goal all along was to have that section finished by the start of summer. He also said the project, which was overseen by Michels Corp., appears to have remained within the department’s $410 million project or even come in below it, although some work...