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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...

Fiat Chrysler is in talks with the Chinese company Foxconn to develop and manufacture battery-powered vehicles, the U.S.-Italian automaker said Friday. Fiat Chrysler is in the process of merging with France’s PSA Peugeot, which is 12% owned by Chinese company Dongfeng Motor Co. Both Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot have lagged in developing electric powertrains and also have been struggling to increase sales in China, the world’s biggest auto market. It was unclear what impact Fiat Chrysler’s proposed joint venture with Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., would have on the wider merger, which is expected to...

Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou was seen exiting the White House Thursday after a reported meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The billionaire Taiwanese tech mogul refused to confirm meeting Trump, telling reporters in English: "My memory is not good; maybe I already forgot," according to the Central News Agency. White House officials did not respond immediately to questions regarding the reported meeting. Rumors of a possible meet between Gou and Trump surfaced Thursday when the Nikkei Asian Review quoted unnamed sources familiar with the plan. That report also indicated that Gou met with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in late...

Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots. One factory has "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots", a government official told the South China Morning Post. Xu Yulian, head of publicity for the Kunshan region, added: "More companies are likely to follow suit." China is investing heavily in a robot workforce. In a statement to the BBC, Foxconn Technology Group confirmed that it was automating "many of the manufacturing tasks associated with our operations" but denied that it meant long-term job losses. [snip] Since September 2014, 505 factories...

Japanese media report that troubled Japanese electronics maker Sharp has agreed to a takeover offer from Taiwanese company Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn. Sharp Corp. would not immediately confirm the reports Thursday by Kyodo News Service and other media that it had opted for Foxconn rather than a competing consortium of Japanese investors to help restructure its once booming liquid crystal display panel business to cope with competition from Korean and Chinese rivals. ...

05/31/2010 13:07 CHINA Foxconn suicides: capitalism and Marxism treat people like animals by Wei Jingsheng The great dissident analyzes the series of suicides in the Guangdong factory and points the finger at the Chinese social system, which transforms businessmen (even Western) into devils without morals, cancels labour rights, morality and democracy in the name of profit. The collusion of business and media in the West. /snip The theory of Karl Marx was really not so good, as it brought a century disaster to the human race. Yet, to the least, Karl Marx was a person with some sympathy. Should he...

Under its Foxconn brand, Hon Hai Precision Industries makes gadgets to order for the biggest name in electronics. And in light of the increasing number of employee suicide attempts and media attention, some of those clients are beginning to speak publicly about the problem. On Friday, one of the most recognizable names in electronics, Sony, and the largest mobile-phone company in the world, Nokia, say they're looking into what's happening at the Foxconn factories in China, according to Agence France Presse. "In response to recent reports, Sony has begun taking steps to re-evaluate the working environment at Foxconn," the...

Apple says 'saddened' by string of suicides at Foxconn HONG KONG Wed May 26, 2010 12:44am EDT HONG KONG May 26 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Wednesday that it was saddened by a recent spate of apparent suicides at Foxconn (2038.HK), one of its key production partners, and would continue ongoing inspections of all facilities where its products are made.

As Foxconn's suicide cluster continues, the company is desperate to have the death toll remain where it is.Foxconn has been experiencing a wave of suicides, with a total of eight employees taking their lives since the beginning of the year. A ninth incident, which took place yesterday, and saw a man with several knife wounds fall from a seventh-floor window of one of Foxconn’s dormitories, has not been confirmed as a suicide.

The massive Foxconn factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is known for assembling famous electronic goods like Apple's iPhone and iPad. But in recent months it has gained a darker image, as a place where distraught workers regularly throw themselves to their deaths. The latest fatality came on Tuesday morning, when a 19-year-old employee died in a fall in the company's Shenzhen compound, according to the state-run Xinhua news service. He was the ninth worker this year to have died in a fall from factory buildings on Foxconn's properties in Shenzhen; two have survived suicide attempts, according to...