foxconn

Foxconn and Mozilla announced a partnership Monday under which the Chinese electronics manufacturer will build not just Firefox phones, as others have announced, but tablets, too.

The rumored partnership was confirmed as Mozilla and Foxconn announced their tie-up at the Computex show in Taiwan. By including software in its devices, Foxconn gets to sell a more complete and therefore potentially valuable product to those companies that actually will attach their brands to the hardware.

"We believe that the integration of software and hardware development will offer greater benefits to our customers and consumers," said Young Liu, the general … Read more

Hon Hai is trying to expand beyond its role as a parts supplier to tech companies by devoting more research into display panels.

The company announced today that it will set up a new R&D center in Japan to focus on display and touch panels, according to Reuters. Any new technologies created at the center will be used for consumer, commercial, and medical products, Hon Hai said.

The new Japanese center will mark the company's third R&D facility in Asia, following one in Taiwan and another in China. Hon Hai said it plans to consolidate … Read more

Apple is reportedly reducing its dependence on electronics manufacturer Foxconn by throwing more business to Foxconn competitor and Apple partner Pegatron.

Pegatron, which already makes some iPhones and iPad Minis, has been chosen to be the primary assembler of a low-cost iPhone expected to be unveiled later this year, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Despite Apple's longtime business relationship with Foxconn, CEO Tim Cook wants to achieve greater balance in the company's supply chain by shifting more work to Pegatron, the Journal reported.

The shift is also reportedly due in part to Foxconn's production troubles … Read more

Foxconn, the company that has become best-known for working with Apple to produce iPhones and iPads, is looking to dramatically expand its product services, according to a new report.

As Apple's product shipments start to slow, Foxconn, which produces the company's mobile products, has decided that it's looking to move into media content and software, as well as electronics accessories, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its plans.

In an interview with the Journal, a Foxconn executive said the company needs to "actively expand our client base to … Read more

Mozilla and Foxconn have sent around an press event invitation that declares that the two companies will be debuting a new device that runs on a Firefox operating system, according to Focus Taiwan. The event is to take place on June 3.

Someone with knowledge of the matter told Focus Taiwan that the new product will most likely be a tablet. Rumors have surfaced lately that Mozilla has been working on a Firefox OS tablet, especially since the company recently debuted two smartphones running on the operating system.

In April, a small Spanish company called Geeksphone began selling the two Mozilla smartphones, … Read more

Microsoft has struck a patent-licensing agreement with Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, that protects the company from being sued by the software giant over devices it makes that run Google's Android and Chrome operating systems.

Hon Hai will pay Microsoft unspecified royalties in exchange for "broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio," the companies announced this evening.

Microsoft has long argued that Chrome and Android infringe on its patented technology in areas ranging from the user interface to the underlying operating system. However, rather than going after Google for patent violations, Microsoft has targeted device makers, … Read more

Apple's next-generation iPhone has already prompted supplier Foxconn to bump up its ranks.

Also known as Hon Hai Precision, the Taiwan-based supplier confirmed today that it has hired around 10,000 employees for the assembly line at its factory in Zhengzhou since the end of March, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The Zhengzhou plant is a major producer of the iPhone.

A spokesman for Foxconn told the Journal only that the company increased its workforce to meet seasonal demand from customers. But "executives familiar with the situation" said the extra employees were hired specifically to get … Read more

Foxconn, the manufacturing company best known for producing iPhones and iPads, saw sales drop considerably during the first quarter.

According to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the company's financials during the three-month period ending March, Foxconn saw its sales drop 19 percent to 808.9 billion Taiwan new dollars ($26.9 billion). During the same period last year, Foxconn's revenue hit 1 trillion Taiwan new dollars.

The bad news for Foxconn didn't stop there. The company said that its second-quarter revenue would be relatively flat compared to the prior period, and it might have trouble maintaining … Read more

Foxconn, which was plagued by worker suicides a few years ago, has denied a report out of China that a female employee jumped from the roof of one of the manufacturing giant's factories last week.

According to a post on the Chinese microblogging Web site Sina Weibo and reported by Kotaku, a woman unhappy with job security issues jumped Friday morning from the roof of Foxconn's Shenzhen factory but survived. It was also reported that three other employees were also on the roof, threatening to jump.

Foxconn, which produces consumer electronics for companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, … Read more