Foxconn’s ‘intelligent robotics kingdom’ to create jobs, then replace them

November 6, 2011 By Adam Rosenberg

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group formalizes its plans to construct an automated worker manufacturing plant with a letter of intent laying out a soon-to-be-built "intelligent robots kingdom" in Taiwan.

Get used to the name Foxconnn, as its corporate logo will almost certainly be printed on the chests of our future machine overlords. The Taiwanese company (although one of China’s largest employers) responsible for (among other things) assembling Apple‘s various iPhones is moving ahead with plans to fill its workforce with a larger number of machine minds. Company chairman Terry Gou signed a letter of intent this week with Taichung mayor Jason Hu that lays out the company’s plan to build a production facility described as an “intelligent robotics kingdom” in the Central Taiwan Scienec Park, Focus Taiwan reports.

Gou expects to see a $4 billion dollar value from the investment as the plant comes together over the next three to five years. As many as 2,000 jobs will be created to brings this plan together, though the long-term view of such a move will ultimately end up putting people out of work. The plant will be responsible for building Foxconn’s robot army, automated employees capable of handling a variety of tasks, as part of an effort to cut down on labor costs.

Foxconn isn’t the only company in China building robots to perform the tasks of a skilled labor workforce, but having that sweet iPhone money rolling in will likely give it an edge in getting this plant up and running quickly.

Showing 15 comments

Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 11:47am 14th December 2011 Ed, do you really believe that these workers are paid similarly to US counterparts, if those components were manufactured stateside? That's just silly.
Damon Schmitt at 10:02pm 6th November 2011 This is the failing of modern capitalism. Not to say capitalism should be abolished, but it must be rethought.You form a corporation. You hire people. You make vast profits off of the backs of those people. You reinvest that money into automation - and then we say "we have lost jobs". Bullshit. WE have increased productivity. To say that it's simply an opportunity for more 'profit' from the owners, rather than the opportunity for the people to enjoy a -reduced workload-, is when the theft of resources becomes fully apparent.
Aerobat at 10:05am 6th November 2011 Wow, even Taiwanese labor isn't cheap enough.You know where we could find real production savings and increase profits? We could invent ROBOTS to replace CEO' s and CFO's ... That's where the real profit leaks are.
1. Ed Greshko at 5:26pm 6th November 2011 What makes you think Taiwanese labor is or would be cheap? Low tech jobs have been shipped out of Taiwan to China years ago. The article is also misleading in that Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, not a Chinese company. Terry Gou is also Taiwanese.
  1. Ian Bell at 5:38pm 6th November 2011 Taiwan company that is the leading employer in China.
  2. Ian Bell at 5:40pm 6th November 2011 Thanks for the heads up. I updated the story so it is more accurate.
  3. Aerobat at 5:46pm 6th November 2011 I've worked with Foxconn and have designed products that were taken into production with them so I'm aware of the "True Cost of Ownership" differences between Taiwan and Mainland China. Quality and production yield are critical elements in making that decision and Taiwan rankes well against the Mainland. I would have preferred US production but Design Engineers don't get to make that choice. We're lucky enough when the design stays here in the US. Even that's getting increasingly rare.
2. Luke Murry at 8:35pm 27th November 2011 Artificial Intelligence will be at that point in the next two decades. The question then becomes, who reaps the profits when all the production is automated? The easy answer is humanity, but somehow I think the powers that be will find a way to muck up automated abundance.