Foxconn could follow Apple to Arizona
Mike Sunnucks
Senior Reporter-
Phoenix Business Journal
Chinese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group could be following its biggest customer, Apple Inc., to Arizona.
We reported last week that Gov. Jan Brewer’s trade trip to Taiwan could include talks with Foxconn about locating a plant in the Phoenix area.
The trip came right after Apple’s announcement of a 700-worker domestic manufacturing plant in Mesa.
Mary Teagarden, an international supply chain expert and business professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, said last week Foxconn is looking at U.S. sites for a prototype manufacturing plant to test out robot workers.
IDG News Service reported today that Brewer met with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou over the weekend and the company confirmed interest in Arizona for a manufacturing site. The IDG story said Foxconn could build and assembly television and other display panels at an Arizona plant.
Foxconn is based in Taiwan but has plants in China and Mexico where workers assemble Apple and other high-tech products.
The Asian company and Apple have come under criticism for reports of low wages and long hours for Chinese workers. Many of those workers are young women who make $3,600 to $6,000 per year, according to IDG and other reports.
Foxconn has 1.2 million workers worldwide and also has plants in Brazil, Eastern Europe and Malaysia.
The company has promised to increase worker pay and improve working conditions, especially in China.
Teagarden said increasing worker pay at Chinese factories is prompting suppliers such as Foxconn and U.S. companies such as Apple to look at cheaper alternatives. She said that includes Southeast Asia markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand as well as more automation.
Foxconn has been trying to deploy robotic workers at its plants since last year.
The company also does work with other U.S. technology titans such as Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Amazon.com.
Like Apple, Foxconn could be in line for property, energy, equipment and job creation tax breaks from the state.
"Arizona is on offense when it comes to economic development. Gov. Brewer and the Arizona Commerce Authority are very aggressive promoters of Arizona’s business environment," said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Hamer is in Taiwan with Brewer and touted the governor's ability to pitch the state to businesses.
Foxconn officials and representatives of the Governor’s Office and the Arizona Commerce Authority did not respond to requests for comment today or last week about a possible Arizona factory.
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