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Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer of Apple and Xiaomi smartphones as well as Samsung tablets, plans to spend $5 billion on new factories and development in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra will provide 1,500 acres of land for Foxconn on which facilities will be constructed over the next 5 years. Foxconn says that the development will provide 50,000 jobs, short of the "million job opportunities" it promised in July:
India was chosen for an R&D role because of the skills of local workers, but the move to India is motivated by other factors too. One is undoubtedly the "Make in India" policy India's government is using to lure manufacturers to the nation and to improve local manufacturing practices. Make in India is both an economic development policy and a way for India to point out that there are easy ways to access its growing domestic market.
Wage growth in China may be another factor in Foxconn's thinking, as may China's increasing preference for joint ventures on its soil. Beijing's military posturing in the South China Sea also has diplomatic types pondering the wisdom of having all one's manufacturing eggs in a Middle Kingdom basket. Indian facilities may be a few more sea-days from the USA, but aren't horribly out of the way.
Previously: Foxconn to Hire 1 Million People in India by 2020
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @05:17PM
Nothing happened to it. If for now Indian labor is cheaper than robots, why would they use robots? Basically this will kick the can down the road. Eventually the wages in India will increase, making the venture slightly less profitable. After India it will be some horrible African hell-hole, then Detroit, then robots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @05:45PM
So, even robots can get outsourced?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Daiv on Monday August 10 2015, @09:05PM
I know you're just being an ass hole mentioning Detroit and I know it's the product owner that bears the cost of transportation, not the assembler (Foxconn), but Foxconn would have been smart to pick up cheap land and labor in Detroit 6-7 years ago. 2.5 square miles of land would have been significantly cheaper and the city would have offered some absurd tax subsidies (reference Detroit's bankruptcy that concluded last year). The walk-able population would have applied instantly. Although I know Foxconn's status quo is to have dorms on site, I don't know how well that would have went over.
Foxconn could have sold the reduced cost of transportation as a huge perk, paid the Michigan minimum wage and still come out ahead. No doubt they would probably have picked up a bit of business as well. Element is making televisions in Michigan just south of Detroit.
With 140 square miles in the city, I'm sure they're still plenty of land to choose from and there's definitely an abundance of labor they could still pay minimum wage, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as cheap.