Foxconn

Infobox Company
company_name = Hon Hai Precision Industry
company_
company_type = Public
TSE|2317
(hkse|2038)
foundation = 1974
location_city = Taipei
location_country = Taiwan
key_people = Terry Gou (Chairman/President)
area_served = Global
industry = Electronics
products = Various
revenue = profit$40.6 billion USD (2006)
operating_income = profit$1.5 billion USD (2005)
net_income = profit$1.3 billion USD (2005)
num_employees = 500,000+
parent =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.foxconn.com/ Foxconn Technology Group]
footnotes =

Foxconn (富士康) is the trade name of the Taiwan based firm Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Ltd.) (lse|HHPD). Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturers of electronics and computer components worldwide, and mainly manufactures on contract to other companies. Although sometimes referred to as an original equipment manufacturer, Foxconn would be more accurately described as an original design manufacturer. Among other things, Foxconn produces the Mac mini, the iPod and the iPhone for Apple Computer; Intel-branded motherboards for Intel Corp.; various orders for American computer retailers Dell, Inc. and Hewlett Packard; the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 for Sony; the Wii for Nintendo;the Xbox 360 for Microsoft, cell phones for Motorola, and Amazon Kindle. [ [http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=14915 "Inside Apple's iPod Factories", MacWorld website, June 12, 2006] ] [http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118677584137994489.html?mod=blog The Forbidden City of Terry Gou] , "The Wall Street Journal", 11 August 2007] [ [http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/11/19/front-company-and-oem-for-amazon-kindle-is/ "Front Company and OEM for Amazon Kindle is...", CrunchGear, 19 November 2007] ]

The company was founded in 1974 as a manufacturer of plastic products (notably connectors) by Terry Gou, who remains its CEO. It has been listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange since 1991.

Foxconn mainly manufactures in China; in 2007 it employed 450,000 people there and was China's largest exporter.Fact|date=September 2008 The company opened its first manufacturing plant in China in 1988, a factory in Shenzhen that is now the company's largest, with more than 270,000 employees. Beginning in 1994, Foxconn purchased development centres in the United States and Japan. The years 1998 and 1999 saw the establishment of additional manufacturing plants in the UK and the US. As of 2007, the company and its subsidiaries owned plants in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, India and Vietnam.

Products

Cases

Foxconn makes a range of computer cases designed to appeal to system builders. Apple Inc. vertically integrated with Foxconn in 1986.

Motherboards

Foxconn designs and manufactures several different motherboards, with many being sold to OEM distributors such as Dell and HP. Starting in 2003 the company has produced retail boards under its own brand name. Foxconn also makes PGA/ZIF sockets used by other OEMs such as ASUSFact|date=July 2008.

Graphics cards

In March 2006, Foxconn branched into the manufacture of graphics cards, starting with a GeForce 7900GTX (branded as PX7900GTX) at clock speeds of 550 MHz / 1320 MHz for the core and memory respectively, but with intentions to market both NVIDIA and ATi boards. Foxconn also released the very popular Foxconn 7900GS, one of the most popular graphics cards on the market. The Foxconn 7900GS has a large user fanbase, because of its low price and high clockspeeds. Foxconn has released a 768MB 8800GTX card as well, with clock speeds comparable to the established competition.

Computer cooling solutions

Foxconn manufactures stock heat sink fans for some AMD processors, including but not limited to their K8N Dual Core Opterons.

Consoles

Foxconn is the OEM for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

Apple Products

Foxconn is one of the OEMs for iPod nanos, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and the iPhone.

Computers

PCAs and Chassis.

Cell Phones

Apple iPhones, Foxconn OEMs Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson cell phones.

Other Devices

Amazon's reading device, the Kindle.

Cell phones are produced in the WLBG Foxconn division.(WLBG = Wireless Business Group)

Home networking devices that compete with products made by companies such as Netgear.

Foxconn produces Nokia phonesets in Hungary at the industrial park in Komárom, next to Nokia's central European factory.

Ugobe's pleo robot

Other brands

Foxconn also operate under the brand name of Leadtek, which also focuses on the hardware-orientated consumer market.

Criticism

Employment practices

In June 2006, allegations of Foxconn operating abusive employment practices came to light as reported by "Mail" that were later denied by Foxconn. [ [http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1799 "iPod City: inside Apple's iPod factories" AppleInsider, 12 June, 2006] ] [ [http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1822 "Foxconn: iPod sweatshop claims a 'vicious attack'", AppleInsider, June 19, 2006] ] Apple launched an investigation into such claims. [ [http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1826 "Apple begins audit on iPod sweatshop claims", AppleInsider, June 20, 2006] ] The result was that the claims of mistreatment of employees were judged by the Apple inspection team to be largely unfounded, but the inspection team also discovered that at peak production times some of the employees were working more hours than Apple's acceptable "Code of Conduct" limit of 60 hours, and 25% of the time workers did not get at least one day off each week [http://www.mobilised.com.au/content/view/537/77/] . These same workers complained there was not enough overtime in off peak periods. The auditing team also found that workers had been punished by being made to stand to attention for long periods [http://www.foxconn.com/ser/06110602_2.htm] , whilst the team found that this practice was not widespread, it should also be remembered that all junior employees are subjected to military-style drill [http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/06/14/photos_inside_foxconns_ipod_city.html] at least as part of their initial training. The audit also noted that "some aspects of workplace auditing (such as health and safety) lie beyond our current expertise".

Although admitted it makes workers do an extra 80 hours overtime per month while the local labor law only permits 36 hours [http://www.mobilised.com.au/content/view/421/88/] , Foxconn are now suing the journalists (Wang You and Weng Bao of "China Business News"). The demand was for $3.77 million originally and have lodged a successful Chinese court ruling to have the journalists' assets frozen. [ [http://ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/foxconn-sues-chinese-journalists-over-ipod-factory-story/ "Foxconn sues Chinese journalists over iPod factory story" ilounge, 2006] ] Many think the astronomical demands and the court ruling were absurd. [ [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-08/29/content_5020806.htm Shenzhen court ruling on Foxconn case "absurd": experts] Xinhua, 2006] Reporters Without Borders sent a letter to Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs to implore Foxconn to drop the case [ [http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18691 Apple Computer urged to intercede for two reporters who exposed bad conditions at supplier’s plants] , Reporters Without Borders] . Later Foxconn reduced the demand to a symbolic 1 yuan (12 U.S. cents), withdrew the request to freeze the journalists' personal assets, and initiated legal proceedings to sue their employer [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2377983 China Business News] . Many have heralded these turn of events as evidence of mass media and negative publicity forcing the hand of big business; leading them to a more appropriate course of action. [ [http://techdirt.com/articles/20060831/003950.shtml "iPod Factory Just Kidding About Destroying Reporters' Lives", Techdirt, 2006] ]

External links

* [http://www.foxconn.com Official website]
* [http://www.foxconnchannel.com foxconnchannel.com]
* [http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=14915 Inside Apple's iPod factories]
* [http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/10/20061010082853.shtml Mac Rumors: New MacBooks from Foxconn?]
* [http://www.isuppli.com/catalog/ems-research-odm-electronic-manufacturing.asp Get The Latest News And Data Regarding Foxconn (the registered tradename of Hon Hai)]