Foxconn is reportedly considering opening a number of factories in the US as a response to rising labour costs in China.
The factories would assemble televisions using robots, which may be far more effective than its production process in China, which largely involves assembling products by hand.
Los Angeles and Detroit are among the locations currently being evaluated by Foxconn. Any factory could go some way to helping President Obama fulfil his promise to create one million manufacturing jobs in the next four years.
However, Foxconn would have to alter its working practices in the US, which have come under increasing scrutiny in recent times following a number of employee suicides and factory incidents.
Apple was so concerned it sent the Fair Labor Association to examine working conditions in its supply chain, resulting in improved working conditions for Foxconn’s 800,000 workers in mainland China.
Wages have more than doubled since the FLA’s investigation, while the maximum working time has been brought down in order to comply with the Chinese legal limit for overtime. However last month, Foxconn confessed it has been employing teenagers as young as 14 to work in one of its factories. According to Chinese law, employers can be fined or have their business licenses revoked for hiring workers under 16.
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