Apple supplier Foxconn sets up global business base in iPhone city in show of commitment to China
- The Taiwanese manufacturer has established a new centre in Zhengzhou that will focus on core research and formulating development plans
- China’s Henan province has vowed support for Foxconn’s business, after a Covid-19 outbreak severely disrupted the firm’s local production last year
An opening ceremony, held on Tuesday in Henan’s capital Zhengzhou, was attended by provincial Communist Party secretary Lou Yangsheng, provincial governor Wang Kai, and Foxconn CEO and chairman Liu Young-way, according to a news report by the government-backed Henan Daily.
The centre will focus mainly on applying new technologies in Foxconn’s business, formulating development plans, researching core technologies, and incubating new projects, the report said, adding that provincial authorities have pledged their “full support for Foxconn and its upstream and downstream partners along the supply chain”.
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Foxconn’s development strategy is “highly consistent” with Henan’s “10 strategies”, which include driving growth through innovation and digitisation, and the two parties have signed a new round of strategic collaboration agreements, the report said.
While Foxconn has been Apple’s biggest contract manufacturer, its production activity in Zhengzhou, known as iPhone city, suffered major disruptions last year after a Covid-19 outbreak led to mass walkouts and worker protests over stringent pandemic controls and wages.
The debacle caused shipment delays for the iPhone during last year’s holiday season in Apple’s home market as well as Europe, prompting the Californian giant to accelerate the move of some production outside China.