Foxconn Technology Group, the manufacturing giant and supplier to Apple Inc., has confirmed its plans to expand its operations in North America as customers request more of their products be Made in U.S.A.
“We are looking at doing more manufacturing in the U.S. because, in general, customers want more to be done there,” Louis Woo, a Foxconn spokesman, said in a phone interview. He declined to comment on individual clients or specific plans.
The announcement comes when Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in an interview to Bloomberg Businessweek, that it planned to spend more than $100 million next year on building Mac computers in the U.S. Foxconn, based in Taipei, has 1.6 million workers globally, including factories in California and Texas that make partially-assembled products such as servers, Woo said.
“Supply chain is one of the big challenges for U.S. expansion,” Woo said. “In addition, any manufacturing we take back to the U.S. needs to leverage high-value engineering talent there in comparison to the low-cost labor of China.”
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou, who founded the maker of iPhones, iPads, PlayStations and televisions in Taipei 38 years ago, wants to bring U.S. engineers to Asia to train them in manufacturing before deploying them back home, he said at a forum last month.
With more than 1.5 million workers at factories scattered around China, Foxconn also benefits from having suppliers located nearby, boosting flexibility, cutting delivery times and reducing transport costs. Some of the parts, such as core processors for its phones and glass used in displays, are manufactured in the U.S.
