Foxconn may build a display manufacturing plant in the US (with Apple's help)

[Shawn Knight]

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., better known as Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, is considering a joint investment with Apple to build a display production facility in the US.

The $7 billion deal would also involve Sharp, the Japanese electronics maker that Foxconn purchased a controlling stake in last year for $3.5 billion.

Gou told reporters after his company’s year-end party that Apple is willing to invest in the facility because they also need display panels. The executive added that the increase in demand for larger display panels makes local production a better solution versus manufacturing units in China and exporting them to the states.

A US production site could create anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs, Gou said.

There’s no guarantee of a deal at this point. Gou said a deal would depend on many factors, some of which would have to be negotiated at the state and federal levels. Investment conditions would also be considered, he added.

Apple as of writing hasn’t publicly commented on the matter.

Rumors of Apple moving its iPhone production to the US have persisted for months. In November, Nikkei cited unnamed sources that said Apple had asked both Foxconn and Pegatron (another iPhone manufacturer) about moving operations to the US. Doing so, however, could cause the cost of Apple’s handset to more than double, another source said.

Image courtesy Bobby Yip, Reuters

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67874-foxconn-may-build-display-manufacturing-plant-us-apple.html

 

[yRaz]

Doing so, however, could cause the cost of Apple’s handset to more than double

>implying apple doesn't already double the price of their products

 

[Uncle Al]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

 

[Evernessince]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

Is there really anything that can be done to fix that? I guess you can restrict work visas but then again that would affect other high skill works unintentionally.

 

[Nodeity]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

How much are they being paid? I doubt it's as much as an American worker!

 

[davislane1]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

Is there really anything that can be done to fix that? I guess you can restrict work visas but then again that would affect other high skill works unintentionally.

High skill workers need to be restricted as well. IIRC, this was mentioned during the campaign. Don't remember if he walked that back or added some caveat, as I recall some controversy regarding some aspect of his H1B statements in 2015.

 

[psycros]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

Is there really anything that can be done to fix that? I guess you can restrict work visas but then again that would affect other high skill works unintentionally.

Yeah, it would affect them by forcing companies to actually hire American college grads for a change. H1B visas are one of the most abused mechanisms for keeping wages for skilled workers low. There's no significant shortage of home-grown talent - its just that Asians and Indians will take lower pay in exchange for being sponsored. They STILL make over twice what they would back home. Its modern serfdom and it should only be allowed for industries that can prove they really can't find the people they need in the US. Nearly all major companies grease the palms of regulators to insure the uninterrupted flow of cheap foreign labor, and it needs to stop. That said, I don't where these insane 30,000-50,000 numbers are coming from. You'd need a dozen factories for that kind of work force. I suppose their playing the usual game of projecting a bunch of purely theoretical jobs that will appear as a side effect of any facilities that get built.

And I'm sure this little announcement had nothing to do with Trump pulling the US out of the TPP today (a fantastic move, incidentally..it was nearly as bad of a deal as the Iranian nuke agreement).

 

[Evernessince]

Yeah, it would affect them by forcing companies to actually hire American college grads for a change. H1B visas are one of the most abused mechanisms for keeping wages for skilled workers low. There's no significant shortage of home-grown talent - its just that Asians and Indians will take lower pay in exchange for being sponsored. They STILL make over twice what they would back home. Its modern serfdom and it should only be allowed for industries that can prove they really can't find the people they need in the US. Nearly all major companies grease the palms of regulators to insure the uninterrupted flow of cheap foreign labor, and it needs to stop. That said, I don't where these insane 30,000-50,000 numbers are coming from. You'd need a dozen factories for that kind of work force. I suppose their playing the usual game of projecting a bunch of purely theoretical jobs that will appear as a side effect of any facilities that get built.

And I'm sure this little announcement had nothing to do with Trump pulling the US out of the TPP today (a fantastic move, incidentally..it was nearly as bad of a deal as the Iranian nuke agreement).

https://www.google.nl/search?q=not+...rome..69i57.7749j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

There are plenty of articles on the "skill gap" in the united states. With Unions on the downturn, apprenticeships are also down, something that traditionally allows more handy people to get right into the work and learn on the job. In addition the rising cost of college hasn't help. With federal assistance getting lower each year all the while average income is decreasing.

I do totally agree that the H1B visa issue does need to be fixed. Simply fixing that would increase demand for American workers and thus increase wages.

The TPP was a total hack job and I'm happy it was stopped. It started out with good intentions but it was eventually turned into a corporate tool to extend copyright overseas, among other things. We do need a trade deal for that region but not one like that.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

This is where Trump, your new beloved president should step in.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

How much are they being paid? I doubt it's as much as an American worker!

America still has it's own workers??? I though the orientals already took over that little chore.

 

[Tanstar]

"A US production site could create anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs, Gou said."

That's great! I think way to many American elementary students are unemployed.

 

[wiyosaya]

Well, look on the bright side. They will likely provide "housing" like they do in China, so the slaves, uh, workers won't have to buy their own houses, or have privacy, or any other thing that workers should not have because it costs too much and it fosters independent thinking.
/sarcasm

 

[wiyosaya]

More worrisome is the issue of many of these off shore companies bringing their own workers here. In Tennessee the Hankook company has staffed their operation with well over 50% of workers from South Korea, which certainly doesn't do a thing for the American work force that want an opportunity. Hopefully the president will become aware of this and make adjustments that will help American workers.

Is there really anything that can be done to fix that? I guess you can restrict work visas but then again that would affect other high skill works unintentionally.

High skill workers need to be restricted as well. IIRC, this was mentioned during the campaign. Don't remember if he walked that back or added some caveat, as I recall some controversy regarding some aspect of his H1B statements in 2015.

Yes, we need to restrict high skill workers because we have so many coming out of US education institutions.

But wait, don't I hear grumblings of cutting back education programs in the US? Why should we support public schools, bolster their education programs up to the level of other countries, right? We'll give vouchers to the poor because the gifted among them are surely able to afford to pay the difference between the value of the voucher and the cost of their education, right?

 

[davislane1]

But wait, don't I hear grumblings of cutting back education programs in the US?

Yes. Consistently over the past 20 years (see any conversation about teacher pay, public school funding, and American academic performance globally). With higher education in particular, we have a growing problem of educating foreign students at elite schools only to have them jump ship (no pun intended) back to their countries after acquiring requisite experience in the United States.

Those seats should be going to natives.