Several postings ago I discussed the notion of rising costs of manufacturing in China and impact on how things are changing in that economy.  Between middle of last year (2011) and now the Chinese economy and some poster children of its fast climb to a power level have been in the news quite a bit.  Foxconn is one of those constantly mentioned companies — entities that have benefited tremendously from the Chinese orientation towards manufacturing.  It is also a company that has build its large wealth and power leveraging resources in China — cheap labor and access to land, etc.

So who is Foxconn? 

According to the company's own Web site — it is a large manufacturer that touches the daily lives of a large number of the global population!  The company was started in 1974 and by now is a company operating in multiple countries and with 13 factories in China alone!!!  It assembles estimated 40% of the world's consumer electronics (according to the New York Times) and of course it offers assembly services to a number of non-consumer electronics OEM companies.

In the last several quarters the rising labor costs in China have finally started catching up to Foxconn, gross and earnings margins have eroded significantly, and the company has been pushing into other businesses as a result.

What is Foxconn's China Base made out of...

So the image above provides a decent snapshop of Foxconn/Hon Hai — apparently the company employes 1.2M local people (in China) and judging by the map anove, it s a way to understand what makes and drives the company.

Having said all of the above, lets try to wrap up the topic.   Then a second topic is coming to mind — this time about the companie's attitude towards dangerous work.  So now, lets take a look at ABC.com

Having read and seen all this, the question remains — WHAT DO YOU THINK?